UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA    SAN  liin 

II  mil  ii  mil  III  III  III  III  1  nil 


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LIBIV^RY 

UNIVEr^SitY  OS 
CALIFORN-  ■• 
SAN  DlEc: 


UWIVERSIiY  OF  CALIFORNIA,  SAN  DIEGO 
LA  JDI I  A,  CALIFORNIA 


CEREMONIES 


CONNECTED  WITH  THE  UNVEILING  OF  THE  STHTUE  OF 


GENERAL    ROBERT   E.    LEE, 


HT  LEE  CIRCLE,  NEW  ORLEHNS,  LH.,  FEB.  22.  1884. 


MA 


o^OR  ATTON 

"  irr   im^i.^iMmirnrf";jf     -- 


-,<>■■' 


BY    HON.   CHAS.    E.    FENNER 


POEM,  By  H.   F.   REQUIER,  Esq. 


HISTORICAL  SKETCH  OF  R.  E.  LEE  MONUMENTAL  ASSOCIATION. 


NEW   OKLEAXS: 

\V.  n.  Stanslnu-y  &  Co.  Print,  3S  Natclioz  Street. 
iSS-f. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA    '.AN  UIEGO 


1822  0268 


8732 


-H^- 


§• 

M 


LEE- 


P 
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"^z^" 


IIV    II.    1'.     KKQflli'K  . 


Rear  aloft  the  isolid  columti  — 
Kear  it  liiijli  that  men  may  see 

How  the  valiant  honor  valor — 
How" the  brave  remember  Lee. 

Poise  him  on  the  lot  ty  summit 
Of  the  white  euduriiiji  stone, 

Where  his  form  may  linger,  teaching 
In  dumb  majesty  alone. 

Never  braver  spirit  battled, 
Never  grander  soldier  shone, 

Thau  this  victor — vanquished  only 
When  his  hosts  were  overborue. 

Give  him  greeting  while  he  rises 
Ou  this  monument  to-day, 

A»  the  wairior  who  led  armies 
To  the  enemy's  dismay; 

As  the  hero  thrice  encompassed — 
Thrice  outnumbered  by  the  foe — 

Who  with  all  ihe  odds  against  him, 
Stili  resisted  overthrow. 

He,  the  leader  of  the  legions- 
He,  the  chieftain  of  the  brave — 

He,  the  model  man  and  Christian, 
bleeping  where  the  willows  wave  - 

Shall  be  numbered  with  the  noblest 
That  have  ever  swayed  the  world 

Though  his  cause  be  lost  forever 
And  his  fated  Hag  be  furled. 

God  anoint  us  in  this  mojnent 
Of  memorial  for  the  dead— 

For  the  once  contending  armies 
Now  united  overhead — 

For  the  Blue  and  Gray  together 
That  so  bravely  fought  and  fell. 

When  the  North  and  South  divided- 
Faced  the  tlashing  flame  of  hell. 

They  are  looking  fiom  the  Heavens 
On  this  hallowed  scene  to-day. 

And  the  pipes  of  peace  are  playing 
To  their  spiiits  gentle  sway. 

While  we  rear  the  solid  column. 
Hear  it  high  that  men  may  see 

How  the  valiant  honor  valor- 
How  the  brave  remember  Lee. 


jik 


^  ORATION  ^ 


FOR  THE  UNVEILING  OF  THE   ROBERT  E.  LEE  MONUMENT, 
-  HY — 

HON.   CHAS,   E.    FENNER, 


Ladies  and  Gentlemen  : 

If  I  appear  before  you  in  the  double  capacity  of  President  of 
the  E.  E.  Lee  Monumental  Association  and  of  orator  of  the  day, 
it  is  not  of  my  seeking,  but  in  obedience  to  the  unanimous  will 
of  my  brother  ofl&cers  and  directors,  who  have  im^josed  on  me 
the  task  of  commemorating-  the  character,  the  deeds  and  the 
cause  of  Lee,  in  words,  as  this  monumental  tribute  Mas  designed 
to  commemorate  them  in  perennial  bronze  and  stone. 

It  is  now  nearly  two  years  since  this  summons  came  to  me ; 
and  during  that  time,  at  such  intervals  as  a  somewhat  busy  life 
afforded,  I  have  devoted  myself  to  the  study  of  the  memorial 
records  of  Lee,  with  growing  wonder  at  the  purity  of  his  life,  the 
moral  grandeur  of  his  character  and  the  splendor  of  his  achieve- 
ments. 

Amazed  at  the  glowing  picture,  and  little  disposed  to  believe 
in  human  i>erfection,  I  have,  with  the  eye  of  the  critic,  sought  to 
discover  whether  eulogy  had  not  distorted  truth,  and  whether, 
after  all,  this  man  was  not  too  great  to  be  so  good,  or  too  good  to 
be  so  great  as  he  is  paiuted. 

Unless  it  was  my  honest  and  considerate  belief  I  would  not 
insult  the  divine  modest}'  of  the  spirit  of  Lee  by  proclaimmg  as 
I  do  that  he  was  "the  cunning'st  pattern  of  excelling  nature" 
that  was  ever  warmed  by  tlie  "Promethean  heat."'  For  surely 
never  revealed  itself  to  the  human  mind  a  more  delightful  sub- 
ject for  contemplation  than  the  life  and  character  of  Lee. 

The  phenomenal  elevation  of  his  soul  was  <leveloped  by  every 
fertilizing  intiuence  that  could  tend  to  stimulate  and  strengthen, 


6  ORATION. 

by  the  nntecedeiits  of  liis  race,   by  tlio  sniToniicliugs  of  liis  life, 
by  the  lofty  cliai-aftcv  of  liis  education  and  profession. 

The  blood  which  coursed  in  his  veins  descended  in  purest 
strain  through  an  illustrious  ancestry  running  back  to  William 
the  Conqueror,  every  record  of  which  indicates  a  race  of  heredi- 
tary gentlemen.  That  the  blood  of  Launcelot  Lee,  who  landed 
with  the  Conqueror,  and  of  Lionel,  who  fought  with  Coeur  de 
Lion,  had  not  dengenerated,  as  it  percolated  through  the  cen- 
turies, is  evidenced  by  the  history  of  the  American  Lees,  whose 
founder  was  Richard  Lee,  a  cavalier  of  Charles  the  First,  who 
rcjnoved  to  the  Xew  World,  and  is  described  by  Bishop  Meade 
as  ''a  man  of  good  stature,  comely  visage,  enterjirising  genius, 
sound  head,  vigorous  spirit  and  most  generous  nature."  From 
his  stock  sprung  a  host  of  illustrious  Virginians,  the  most  con- 
spicuous of  whom  were  that  Eichard  Henry  Lee,  who,  in  the 
Congress  of  the  Colonies,  moved  the  resolution  adopting  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  proclaiming  that  the  American 
colonies  ''are,  and  of  a  right  ought  to  be,  free  and  independent ;" 
and  the  father  of  our  hero.  Light  Horse  Harry  Lee,  the  Kupert 
of  the  Revolution,  the  friend  of  Washington,  elected  by  Congress 
to  deliver  the  eulogy  of  that  illustrious  man  at  his  death,  and 
who  conferred  upon  him  the  memorable  title  of  "first  in  war, 
first  in  peace,  and  first  in  the  hearts  of  his  countrymen." 

Born  in  the  same  county  with  Washington,  an<l  thus  bound  to 
his  memory  by  the  ties  of  hereditary  friendship,  fate  seems  to 
have  determined  that  this  illustrious  exemplar  should  "rain  influ- 
ence" upon  Lee  from  every  source.  It  gave  him  to  wife  Mary 
Randoljdi  Custis,  daugther  of  the  adopted  son  of  Washington, 
the  nearest  representative  of  his  house,  and  a  woman  whose  ex- 
alted virtues  were  derived  by  lineal  inheritance  from  the  wife  of 
Washington.  This  marriage  transferred  his  residence  to  beautiful 
Arlington,  the  repository  of  the  Washington  relics,  where  he 
lived  surrounded  by  objects  so  freighted  with  the  dearest  memo- 
ries and  associations  of  the  hero's  life,  that  the  very  atmosphere 
of  the  place  seemed  instinct  with  the  lirooding  influence  of  his 
si^irit. 

From  his  very  infancy  Lee  seems  to  have  been  enamoretl  of 
virtue.  In  writing  of  him  at  an  early  age  his  father  says:  "Rob- 
ert, who  was  always  good,  will  be  confirmed  in  his  hai)py  turn  of 
mind  l)y  his  ever  watchful  and  aflectionate  mother." 


ORATION.  7 

That  mother  was  an  invalid,  and  so  tender  and  <lntiful  was  he 
in  his  attentions  to  her,  even  during  his  rough  boyhood,  that 
when  he  h'ft  her  to  go  to  West  Point  she  exchiinicd  :  "  How  can 
I  live   without  liobert !     He  is  both  son  and  daughter  tome." 

And  here  we  catch  the  earliest  glimpse  of  that  epicene  nature, 
tlie  highest  type  of  humanity,  combining  feminine  gentleness 
and  modesty,  quick  sympathy  and  capacity  for  self-abnegation, 
with  masculine  strength,  energy  and  inflexible  purpose — a  com- 
bination which,  in  its  liighest  form,  makes  man,  indeed,  ''the 
beauty  of  the  Avorld,  the  paragon  of  animals  !  " 

Free  from  perilous  precocity,  his  boyhood' and  early  youtli  gave 
ample  evidence  of  that  vigorous  and  symmetrical  intellectual  or- 
ganization, which,  at  every  stage  of  his  career,  rose  to  the  level  of 
the  highest  tasks  imposed  npon  it,  solved  all  the  problems  of  life, 
whether  great  or  small,  as  they  presented  themselves,  with  infal- 
lible judgment,  lifted  him  to  the  summit  of  the  profession  of  his 
choice,  and,  by  the  evenness,  roundness  and  tidiness  of  its  devel- 
opment, left  no  doubt  that,  in  any  other  sphere  of  human  activity, 
it  woidd  have  enabled  him  to  achieve  equal  eminence. 

Bountiful  nature  had  endowed  him  with  exceptional  gifts  of 
physical  beauty.  The  eye  of  the  South  Carolina  poet,  Hayne, 
once  rested  upon  him  in  the  first  year  of  the  war,  when  he  was 
already  on  the  hither  verge  of  middle  age,  as  he  stood  in  the 
fortifications  of  Charleston,  surrounded  l>y  of3ficers,  and  he  has  left 
the  following  pen  picture  of  him  :  ''  In  the  middle  of  the  group, 
topping  the  tallest  by  half  a  head,  was,  perhaps,  the  most  striking 
figure  we  had  ever  encountered,  the  figure  of  a  man  seemingly 
about  fifty-six  or  fifty-eight  years  of  age,  erect  as  a  poplar,  yet 
lithe  and  graceful,  with  broad  shoulders  well  throAvn  back,  a 
fine,  justly  proportioned  head  posed  in  unconscious  dignity, 
clear,  deep,  thoughtful  ej'es,  and  the  quiet,  dauntless  step  of  one 
every  inch  the  gentleman  and  soldier.  Had  some  old  English 
Cathedral  crypt  or  monumental  stone  in  Westminster  Abbey 
been  smitten  by  a  magician's  wand  and  made  to  yield  up  its 
knightly  tenant  restored  to  his  manly  vigor,  with  chivalric  soul 
beaming  from  every  feature,  some  grand  old  Crusader  or  Red 
Cross  warrior,  who,  believing  in  a  sacred  creed  and  espousing  a 
glorious  principle,  looked  upon  mere  life  as  nothing  in  the  com- 
parison, we  thought  that  thus  would  he  have  appeared,  unchanged 
in   aught  but  costume  and   surroundings.        And  this   superb 


8  ORATION. 

soldier,  the  glamour  of  the  antique  days  about  him,  Avas  Kobt. 
E.  Lee." 

If  such  Avas  the  Lee  of  fifty-six  years,  what  must  have  been  the 
sph^iidid  beauty  of  liis  youth  ?  Tlie  priceless  jewel  of  his  soul 
found  fit  setting  iu  this  grand  physique,  marked  by  a  majestic 
bearing  and  easy  grace  and  courtesy  of  gesture  and  movement, 
sprung  from  perfect  harmony  and  symmetry  of  limb  and  nuiscle, 
instinct  with  that  vigorous  health,  the  product  of  a  sound  mind 
iu  a  sound  bod3^ 

Such  was  the  magnificent  youth  who  graduated  from  West 
Point  with  the  honors  of  his  class,  and  dedicated  himself  to  the 
service  of  his  country.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  "Fate  reserved 
him  for  a  bright  manhood."  Xot  his  the  task,  by  the  eccentric 
flight  of  a  soaring  ambition,  to  "pluck  bright  Honor  from  the 
pale-faced  moon,"  or  with  desperate  greed,  to  "dive  into  the  bot- 
tom of  the  deep  and  drag  up  drowned  Honor  by  the  locks."  This 
great  engineer  laid  out  the  road  of  his  life  along  the  undeviating 
line  of  Duty,  prepared  to  bridge  seas  and  scale  mountains  5  to 
defy  foes  and  to  scorn  temptations ;  to  struggle,  to  fight,  to  die, 
if  need  be,  but  never  to  swerve  from  his  chosen  path.  Honor 
and  Fame  were  not  captives  in  his  train.  .  Free  and  bounteous, 
they  ambuscaded  his  way  and  crowned  him  as  he  passed. 

Needless  to  dwell  upon  the  incidents  of  his  life  from  his  grad- 
uation to  the  ]\Iexican  war.  This  period  of  his  early  manhood 
was  passed  in  the  stndj'  of  his  professioii ;  in  the  cultivation  of 
his  mind;  in  the  exercise  of  every  virtue;  in  the  enjoyment  of 
domestic  life  ;  in  the  rearing  of  children  who,  in  the  fullness  of 
time,  were  destined  to  repay  his  care  by  lives  not  unworthy  of 
the  x)aternal  example. 

At  the  opening  of  the  Mexican  war  he  was,  perhaps,  as  per- 
fectly equi])pcd  in  tlie  science  of  soldiership  as  any  living  man. 
Although  but  a  captain  of  engineers  and  debarred  from  rapid 
l)romotion  by  the  rules  of  the  regular  service,  he  achieved  a  dis- 
tinction, if  not  so  noisy,  deei)er  than  was  gained  by  any  subordi- 
nate in  that  war.  No-  name  figured  so  conspicuously  in  the 
reports  of  the  general  commanding  for  brilliant  and  important 
services.  At  its  end,  while  the  multitude  was  sounding  the 
noisier  fame  of  others,  the  judicious  few,  who  weie  familiar  Avith 
the  interior  of  the  campaigns,  awarded  the  i)alm  of  soldiership 
to  the  modest  officer  of  engineers,  and  already   fixed   on  him   as 


ORATION.  9 

tlic  coiiiiiii;'  captiiin  of  America.  Tlie  man  most  coiiijx-tciit  ol 
all  to  jud^e,  tlie  liero  ol"  Liiiidy's  Lane  liimself,  did  not  hesitate 
to  deelare  that  "Lee  was  the  jj;i'eatest  living-  soldier  of  America," 
and  that  "if  a  great  battle  was  to  be  fought  for  the  liberty  or 
slavery  of  America,  and  T  were  asked  my  judgment  as  to  tlie 
ability  of  a  commander,  1  would  say  with  my  dying  lueatli,  'Let 
it  be  liobert  E.  Lee.'  " 

One  of  the  name  of  Lee  has  defined  lia])i)iness  in  the  following 
homely  but  thoughtful  W()r<ls  :  ''Peace  of  miiul  bas<'d  on  ])iety  to 
Almighty  (rod;  unconscious  innocence  of  conduct,  with  g(jod 
will  to  man  ;  health  of  body,  health  of  mind  and  prosperity  in 
our  vocation  ;  a  sweet,  attectionate  wife;  children  devoted  to 
truth,  honor,  right  and  utility,  with  love  and  res])ect  to  their 
parents;  and  faithful,  warm-hearte«l  friends,  in  a  country  politi- 
cally and  religiously  free — this  is  my  definition  of  happiness." 

I  know  not  where  a  better  can  be  found;  and  if  ever  man  enjoyed 
these  blessings  in  bountiful  measure,  su])plemented  bj-  a  wealth 
of  golden  opinion  in  the  minds  of  all  his  countrynuui,  it  was 
Ivobert  E.  Lee,  as  the  current  of  his  life  flowed  peacefidly  through 
the  years  preceding  the  great  civil  war.  J?othing  disturbed  the 
placidity  of  its  course  save  the  shadows,  rapidly  lengthening  and 
thickening,  cast  by  the  dread  events  which  were  coming  with  the 
imi)ending  future. 

Lee  loved  the  Union.  It  was  emi)hatically  the  Union  of 
his  fathers,  whose  cunning  hands  had  Avrought  in  its  con- 
struction. It  was  the  Union  of  Washington,  the  idol  of  his 
worship.  It  was  his  own  Union  for  which  he  ha<l  fought,  and 
in  Avhose  service  the  "dearest  action"  of  his  life  had  been  spent. 
The  temu'  of  his  w^ay  had  removed  him  from  the  growing  exacer- 
bation of  political  strife.  The  bitterness  of  sectional  hate  had 
not  entered  his  soul.  He  loved  the  whole  Union.  To  his  acute 
l)revision,  its  threatened  disruption  nu^ant  chaos  and  inevitable, 
desi)erate  war.  He  <)i)posed  secession.  He  lifted  his  voice 
against  it  in  words  of  solemn  warning  ami  protestation. 

In  vain  !  AVho  can  lift  his  hand  against  fate,  and,  with  feeble 
gesture,  stay  or  divert  its  course  I  The  inevitable  swept  on  re- 
sistless, r<'morseless.  Sna])ped,  in  (piick  succession,  the  cords 
which  bonnd  State  after  State  to  the  Union  ;  and,  at  last,  with 
mighty  effort,  Virginia  tore  asunder  the  "hoops  of  steel"  which 
en(;ircled    her,    and,    standing   in    the   solitude    of  her   original 


10  ORATION. 

sovereijiiity,  with  imperial  voice,  in  lier  hour  of  peril,  summoned 
all  her  ehihlren  to  her  side.  Lee  she  called  by  name,  singled 
liim  out  as  chiefest  of  her  sons,  her  Hector,  the  i)il1ar  of  her 
house.  Stern  mother,  as  she  was,  she  held  out  to  him  the  baton 
of  lier  armies  and  bade  him  take  it  and  protect  her  honor,  or  die 
in  its  defense. 

The  crisis  of  his  life  had  come.  Ilis  known  love  for  the  Union, 
his  avowed  opposition  to  secession,  his  devoted  attachment  to 
the  venerable  Commander-in-Chief  of  the  Federal  army,  his  edu- 
cation at  West  Point,  his  life  spent  in  the  Federal  service — all 
kindled  hopes  in  the  supporters  of  the  Union  that  his  services 
would  not  be  wanting  to  tlieir  cause,  and  he  was  semiofficially 
advised  that  the  chief  command  in  the  field  of  the  Federal  forces 
tlien  being  organized  was  subject  to  bis  acceptance. 

Eloquent  lips  have  pictured  the  struggle  which  it  cost  Lee  to 
resist  this  glittering  temptation.  And,  indeed,  viewed  from  the 
standpoint  of  mere  personal  interest  and  professional  ambition, 
the  alternative  presented  was  "all  the  Avorld  to  nothing."  But 
my  study  of  his  character  forbids  me  to  believe  that  such  con- 
siderations ever  assumed  the  dignity  of  a  temi)tation  to  him. 
Amongst  the  records  of  his  written  or  spoken  thoughts  I  find  no 
evidence  of  even  a  moment's  hesitation  in  his  choice.  Duty,  the 
gidde  and  guardian  of  his  life,  never  spoke  to  Lee  in  doubtful 
accents.  Its  voice  was  ever  as  clear  as  the  trumpet's  note,  and 
by  him  was  never  heard  but  to  be  instantly  obeyed. 

With  gracious  mien,  he  put  aside  all  contrary  solicitations, 
surrendered  to  the  Union  the  unstained  sword  which  he  had 
worn  so  worthily,  and  parting  from  the  friends  and  associations 
of  his  youth  and  manhood  in  sorrow,  but  not  at  all  in  anger, 
bent  his  steps  to  his  mother,  Virginia,  and  kneeling  reverently 
at  her  feet,  received  from  her  hand  the  chieftain's  sword,  and 
there  kissiug  its  hilt,  swore  eternal  fealty  to  her  cause. 

For  this  act  he  has  been  (ienounced  as  a  deserter  from  his  flag, 
and  a  traitor  to  his  country.  For  this  act  he  went  down  to  his 
grave  a  disfranchised  citizen  of  a  restored  l^nion.  For  a  like  act 
there  yet  rests  the  stigma  of  disfranchisement  upon  a  single  man 
out  of  millions,  the  chivalric  chieftain  of  the  lost  cause. 

[To  Mr.  Davis.  Venerable  man  !  while  the  smirking  littlenes- 
ses of  official  life  deny  you  the  bauble  of  an  unsought  amnesty, 
tliat  providence  which,  in  the  end,  surely  guides  aright  the  ulti- 


ORATION.  ]  1 

ii)ate.ju(lgineiits  ofuiaiikiiKl,  is  cl()<|uc'iit  in  your  lu'liair  to  tlic 
awakening-  conscience  of  the  American  people.  Malice  and 
slander  liave  exliansted  tlieir  i)o\ver  against  yon.  AVe  congra- 
tnlate  you  tliat  the  kindling  splendors  of  that  fame  which  will 
light  [i\)  the  centuries,  already  illumine  the  declining  years  of  a 
life  which  has  illustrated  the  history  of  two  nations  by  valor  in 
battle,  wisdiMM  in  council,  eloiiueiu'e  in  debate,  temperance  in 
triumph  and  iiiexpugnable  fortitude  in  adversity.  (),  pater 
patrkv!  living  as  it  were  "in  an  inverted  order,"  and  mourning, 
sternly  and  inconsolably.  over  the  dead  C(mntry,  salve  et  vale  I] 

If  these  charges  against  Lee  are  true,  the  urgent  question 
presents  itself :  What  do  Ave  here  today;  erecting  a  monument 
to  a  deserter  or  a  traitor  ? 

To  magnify  the  deeds  of  our  heroes,  without,  at  the  same  time, 
vindicating  the  cause  for  which  they  were  done,  Avoidd  be  to 
ignore  that  which  gives  to  those  deeds  their  highest  merit  and 
grace  and  beauty.  ^lere  brute  courage  aud  even  the  highest 
military  skill  are  uot,  of  themselves,  fit  subjects  for  commemora- 
tion in  monumental  brass.  A  x^irate  captain  has  often  fought  in 
defense  of  his  black  tlag  with  as  deperate  bravery  and  as  con- 
summate art  as  !N^elson  at  Trafalgar  or  Lawrence  on  the  decks  of 
the  Constitution.  A  bandit  chief  might  disi)lay  as  much  devo- 
tion, skill  and  courage  in  defending  some  moujitain  pass,  the  key 
to  the  lair  of  his  band,  as  were  exhibited  by  Leonidas  at  Ther- 
mopylae.    But  we  do  not  build  monuments  to  these. 

We  cannot  atford  to  siidv  our  heroes  to  the  level  of  mere  prize 
fighters,  who  deluged  a  continent  iu  blood  without  just  right  or 
lawful  cause. 

Eemembering  that  we  are  here,  as  Americans,  to  do  honor  to 
one  of  the  greatest  of  Americans  ;  gratefully  acknowledging  the 
presence  of  many  of  those  who  fought  against  Lee,  and  who 
have  chivalrously  accepted  our  invitation  to  participate  in  these 
ceremonies ;  1  have  anxiously  asked  myself  whether  I  niight, 
without  just  censure,  undertake  to  speak  in  defense  of  the  cause 
of  Lee. 

Two  decades  have  passed  since  the  Confederate  flag  was  folded 
to  its  eternal  rest.  The  Union  is  restored.  The  wounds  of  in- 
ternecine strife  are  healed.  An  aftluent  tide  of  patriotism, 
Avelling  from  the  hearts  of  a  reunited  i^eople,  rolls,  with  resist- 
less ebb  aud  flow,  through  the  length   and  breadth  of  a  counnon 


12  ORATION. 

couiitiy,  and  breaks,  with  equal  voluine,  upon  the  Soutliern,  as 
upon  tlie  Northern  eontines  of  the  Republic.  All  men  agree  that 
we  live  to-day  under  a  Constitution,  the  meauing  and  effect  of 
which  have,  in  certain  i)articulars.  been  as  deiinitely  settled  in  a 
sense  oi)posed  to  that  contended  for  bj"  the  Southern  States  in 
the  recent  conflict,  as  if  it  had  been,  in  those  resj)ects,  expressly 
amended.  This  has  been  ett'ected  by  the  inveterate  res  adjudicata 
of  war,  from  which  there  is  no  appeal  and  no  desire  to  appeal. 
We,  the  people  of  the  South,  have  renewed  our  unreserA'ed  al- 
legiance to  the  Constitution  as  thus  authoritatively  construed. 
By  the  bloody  C.esarian  operation  of  the  Avar,  the  right  of  seces- 
sion has,  indisputably,  been  eviscerated  from  the  fundamental 
law. 

Blistered  be  the  slanderous  tongue,  and  cankered  the  coward 
heart,  which  would  pervert  Miiat  I  am  about  to  say,  into  an  at- 
tempt to  revive  dead  issues  or  reopen  settled  controversies. 

The  constitutional  dispute  between  the  States  as  to  the  right 
of  secession  is.  to-day,  as  i)urely  a  historical  question  as  the 
questions  between  the  colonies  and  Great  Britain  about  the  right- 
fulness of  the  stam])  act  and  of  taxation  without  representation. 
As  such  I  feel  myself  charged  with  the  solemn  duty  of  discussing 
it,  to  the  end  that  1  may  aid  in  distril)uting  and  perpetuating"  for 
the  benefit  of  this  and  coming-  generations,  a  knowledge  of  the 
grave  and  sul>stantial  grounds  ui>on  which  their  forefathers  be- 
lieved, when  they  "  stood  i'  the  imminent,  deadly  breach,"  in  de- 
fense of  the  States,  of  which  they  were  citizens,  that  they  were 
acting  in  their  right,  in  obedience  to  lawful  authority,  and  in 
violation  of  no  rightful  allegiance  due  by  them  to  any  earthly 
l)ower. 

Standing  by  the  grave  of  this  dead  and  buried  right  of  seces- 
sion, we  inscribe  upon  its  tomb  the  solemn  '■'■rcqitiescat  in  paee^^' 
we  admit  that  the  sepulchre  wherein  it  is  "inurned"  may  never 
"ope  his  ponderous  and  marble  jaws  to  cast  it  \\\i  again  ;"  but 
fanaticism  itself  cannot  deny  us  the  privilege  of  asserting  that  it 
once  "lived  and  moved  and  hatl  its  being,"  sprung  from  the 
womb  of  the  Constitution,  begotten  of  the  loins  of  the  Fathers, 
in  its  day  a  leader  of  hosts  as  true  and  valiant  as  ever  struck  for 
the  "altars  of  their  country  and  the  temples  of  their  gods." 

Follow  me,  therefore,  oh  fellow-citizens  of  a  reunited  country, 
whether  from  the  North  or  from  the  South,  while,  with   reverent 


ORATION.  13 

lieart,  in  the  spirit  of  iiii[»iiitiiil  liistoiy,  and  in  in'ce.ssuiy  vindica- 
tion of  the  ean.se  for  which  he  fought  in  whose  nieiiiory  this  mon- 
ument is  erected,  I  seek  to  trace  the  origin,  thefonndation  and  tin- 
history  of  the  right  of  secession,  bearing  ever  in  mind  tliat  I'siieak 
not  from  the  standpoint  of  to-day,  but  of  that  eventful  moment  in 
the  already  distant  past  when  Lee  was  called  upon  to  determine, 
by  the  lights  then  surronnding  him,  whetlier  his  allegiance  was 
due  to  his  native  State  or  to  the  Federal  Government,  from  which 
she  had  withdrawn. 

Down  to  the  days  of  Hobbes,  of  Malmesbury,  kingship 
founded  its  claim  to  autliority  on  Divine  right.  ITobbes  origina- 
ted the  doctrine  that  political  authority  was  derived  from  the 
consent  of  the  governed,  and  based  that  consent  upon  the  fi(;tion 
of  an  "original  contract"  or  implied  covenant,  which  created 
''that  great  Leviathan  called  the  commonwealth  of  State." 

The  right  of  secession,  even  in  the  form  of  revolution,  had  no 
place,  however,  in  the  theory  of  Hobbes,  because  h(;  lu'hl  that 
this  ''original  contract"  was  irrevocable,  and  thus  laid  for  des- 
potism a  firmer  foundation  than  that  which  he  had  destroyed. 

Locke  made  a  ])rodigions  advance.  Adopting  Tlobbes'  theory 
that  political  authority  was  derived  from  the  consent  of  the 
governed,  he  repudiated  the  doctrine  of  irrevocability,  and  held 
that  the  power  of  rulers  was  merely  delegated,  and  that  the 
people,  or  the  governed,  had  the  right  to  witlulraw  it  when  used 
for  purposes  inconsistent  with  the  common  weal,  the  end  which 
society  and  government  were  formed  to  promote.  By  thus 
Recognizing  the  responsibility  of  rulers  to  their  subjects  for  the 
due  execution  of  their  trusts  and  the  right  of  resistance  by  the 
people  in  case  of  abuse  thereof,  he  established  tlie  sacred  right 
of  revolution,  in  the  assertion  of  which  the  peoi)le  of  England 
expelled  the  Stuarts  from  the  throne,  and  the  American  colonies 
established  their  independence. 

On  emerging  from  a  revolution  in  which  their  rights  of  self- 
government  had  been  so  strenuously  denied,  in  whicli  they  Iiad 
endured  such  sufferings  and  perils  and  liad  so  narrowly  escaped 
from  complete  subjugation,  it  niiglit  naturally  be  expected  that 
in  thereafter  establishing  a  general  government  among  them- 
selves, the  colonies  would  have  been  careful  in  guarding  the 
nature  and  terras  of  their  consent  thereto  and  in  leaving  open  a 
safe  and  peaceful  uu)de  of  retiring  therefrom,  whenever,  in  their 


14  OKATION. 

jiuliiiiieut,  it  should  t'litlaniier  their  riglits  or  cease  to  promote 
their  welfare.  Their  exi)erieuce  had  taught  them  the  danger, 
difficulty  ami  possilde  iiiadequaey  of  the  mere  right  of  revo- 
lution. 

Accordingly,  we  find  that  iu  the  Federal  Governments,  which 
they  instituted,  both  iu  the  articles  of  confederation  aud  in  the 
constitution  of  1781),  they  assiduously  guarded  and  restricted  the 
consent  upon  which  alone  the  authority'  of  these  governments 
rested,  and,  ''to  make  assurance  double  sure,"  distinctly  pro- 
vided that  all  powers,  not  expressly  delegated,  were  reserved  to 
the  States. 

The  (pu'stion  of  the  right  of  secession  had  its  birth  prior  to 
the  foi'mation  of  the  present  Constitution  of  the  United  States. 
It  arose  under  the  prior  articles  of  confederation.  Those  ar- 
ticles, let  it  never  be  forgotten,  contained  an  express  provision 
that  the  Fuion  of  the  States  created  thereby  should  be  "per- 
petual." In  view  of  this  clause,  it  was  vehemently  contended 
that,  without  the  consent  of  all,  no  i)ortiou  of  the  States  had  the 
right  to  withdraw  from  a  Union  which  all  of  them  had  solemnly 
covenanted  with  each  other  should  last  forever. 

These  objections  Avere  overborne  by  the  Convention  of  1787, 
and  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  had  its  origin  in  the 
assertion  of  the  right  of  the  States  to  secede  from  the  confedera- 
tion previously  existiug;  for  the  going  into  eflect  of  that  consti- 
tution was,  by  its  terms,  made  to  depend,  not  upon  the  assent  of 
all  the  States,  but  upon  the  assent  of  nine  onl}',  each  one  of  them 
acting  separately  and  independently. 

Did  not  this  action  concede  that  the  right  to  withdraw  from  a 
Federal  Union  \\  as  a  right  that  inhered  in  the  States  prior  to  the 
establisliment  of  the  present  Constitution?  And  if  in  the  latter 
instrument  we  can  tind  no  surrender  of  that  right,  how  can  it  be 
denied  that  it  was  reserved  to  the  States  ? 

ISTay,  more;  how  does  it  happen  that  the  clause  in  the  articles 
of  confederation,  which  had  declared  the  Union  thereby 
formed  to  be  "perpetual,"  aud  which  had  been  the  foundation  of 
the  arguments  against  the  right  of  secession  therefrom,  was  omit- 
ted froni  the  Constitution? 

"Can  such  things  be, 
And  oveiconif  us  like  a  suuinier's  cloud, 
Witliout  our  si)ecial  wonder?" 


ORATION.  15 

"NVt-  miyht  pause  here,  and  ask,  in  all  candor,  whether,  if  tlie 
Southern  States  erred  iu  believing  and  asserting  the  right  of 
secession,  the  fault  does  not  rest  on  the  shoulders  of  those  who 
framed  the  Constitution  1 

Unless  there  is  something  in  the  essential  nature  of  the  govern- 
ment establislied  by  the  Constitution,  or  in  the  eharax^ter  of  the 
parties  who  established  it,  or  in  the  nature  and  mode  of  the  con- 
sent upon  which  it  rests,  which  is  inconsistent  with  the  right  of 
secession  in  the  States,  it  is  difficult  to  conceive  how  such  right 
could  be  disputed. 

The  doctrine  that  the  Constitution  was  a  cojupact,  voluntarily 
entered  into  between  sovereign  and  independent  States,  purely 
federal  in  its  character,  and  diliering  from  the  former  articles  of 
confederation,  not  as  to  the  nature  of  the  consent  upon  which  it 
was  founded  nor  as  to  the  character  of  the  parties  thereto,  but 
only  as  to  the  kind  and  extent  of  the  powers  granted  to  the  gen- 
eral government  and  the  mode  of  their  execution,  may  be  said  to 
have  passed  substantially  unchallenged  for  considerably  more 
than  a  quarter  of  a  century  after  its  adoption.  That  doctrine 
blazes  forth  in  every  step  taken  in  the  formation  and  adoption  of 
the  Constitution;  in  Mr.  Madison's  resolution  adopted  by  the 
Virginia  Legislature  appointing  commissioners  to  meet  such  com- 
missioners as  may  be  ai^pointed  by  the  other  States,  to  take  into 
consideration  trade  and  commercial  regulations ;  in  the  address 
of  the  convention  of  those  commissioners,  subsequently  held  at 
Annapolis,  which  recommended  a  "general  meeting  of  the  States, 
in  a  future  convention,"  with  powers  extending  "to  other  objects 
than  those  of  commerce;"  in  the  consequent  commissioning  of 
delegates  by  the  several  States  to  the  convention  of  1787,  with 
instructions  to  join  "in  devising  and  discussing  all  such  altera- 
tions and  further  provisions  as  may  be  necessary  to  render  the 
Federal  Constitution  adequate  to  the  exigencies  of  the  Union  f 
in  the  organization  of  that  convention,  under  which  every  State, 
large  or  small,  had  an  equal  and  independent  unit  vote;  in  the 
submission  of  the  instrument  for  ratification  to  a  convention  of 
the  people  of  each  separate  State,  which,  thus  acting  indepen- 
dently and  alone,  gave  its  own  consent  to  the  proposed  compact; 
in  the  letter  of  the  convention  recommending  its  ratifiitation, 
which  expressly  described  the  government  proposed  therein  as 
"the  Federal  government  of  these  States;"  and  finally,  in  the  mode 


10  ORATION. 

of  i»roiiiulgatit)ii  directed,  which  provided  that  ''as  soon  as  the 
conventions  of  nine  States  shall  have  ratified  this  Constitution," 
a  day  should  be  fixed  on  wliich  "electors  should  be  ajjpointed  by 
the  several  States  which  sliall  have  ratified  the  same." 

The  sanu*  doctrine  likewise  appears  in  the  ordinances  of  ratifi- 
cation of  several  of  the  States,  in  the  debates  of  the  convention 
itself  and  in  those  of  the  various  State  conventions — denied  only 
by  the  opponents  of  the  Constitution,  always  at!irnied  by  its 
friends. 

It  is  repeatedly  and  explicitly  proclaimed  in  the  Federalist.  It 
appears  in  the  writings  and  utterances  of  all  the  fathers  of  the 
Constitution,  of  Hamilton  as  well  as  of  Madison,  of  TS^ashing- 
ton,  Franklin,  Gerry,  Wilson,  Morris,  of  those  who  favored  as 
well  as  those  who  feared  a  strong-  government.  It  is  emphati- 
cally announced  not  only  in  the  extreme  Kentucky  resolutions, 
but  in  the  famous  Virginia  resolutions  of  1798,  the  first  from  the 
pen  of  Jefferson,  the  last  from  that  of  Madison,  the  latter  of 
which  declared  that  they  viewed  "  the  powers  of  the  Federal 
Government  as  resulting  from  the  compact  to  which  the  States 
were  parties."  These  resolutions  formed  thereafter  the  corner 
stone  of  the  great  States  Eights  party,  wliich  repeatedly  swept 
the  country  and  whicli  elected  Jefferson,  Madison,  ]\Ionroe  and 
Jackson  to  the  Presidency. 

Even  the  Supreme  Court  of  the  United  States  had  declared 
tliat  the  Constitution  was  a  compact  to  which  the  States  were 
parties. 

The  first  purely  Juridical  work  on  the  Constitution  was  pul)- 
lislied  in  182.5  by  Wdliam  Rawle,  an  eminent  jurist  of  Phila- 
delphia, who.  writing"  as  a  jurist  and  not  as  a  politician,  did  not 
hesitate  to  declare  that  ''  the  Union  was  an  association  of  Ee- 
publics,"  that  the  Constitution  was  a  compact  between  the  Statesj 
that  ''it  d<'])ends  on  the  State  itself  whether  it  continues  a  mem- 
ber of  the  Union,"  that  "the  States  may  withdraw  from  the 
Union,  and  that  "the  secession  of  a  State  from  the  Union  de- 
l)ends  on  the  will  of  the  jjeople."" 

At  a  later  period,  De  Tocqueville,  who  in  his  great  work  on 
Democracy  in  America,  brought  to  the  study  of  our  institutions 
a  i)atient  iind  impartial  spirit,  reached  the  same  conclusions,  and 
declared  that  "the  Union  was  formed  by  the  voluntary  agree- 
ment of  the  States,  and,  in  uniting   together,  they  have  not  for- 


ORATION.  17 

feit<^d  their  iiatioiiality.  *  *  If  oiie  of  the  States  choo.se  to 
withdraw  from  tlie  couii)a(.'t,  it  woukl  be  dilliciilt  to  disprove  its 
right  of  doiug  so." 

I  must  halt  here  in  the  eimineratioii  of  the  plain  historical 
facts  and  overwhelming  authorities  upon  which  rested  the  great 
doctrine  that  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was  purely  a 
federal  compact  between  sovereign  and  independent  States,  de- 
riving its  force  and  authority  from  the  free  and  individual  con- 
sent of  the  several  States  in  their  separate  political  capacities. 
In  these  essential  respects  it  did  not  differ  from  the  articles  of 
confederation,  but  only,  as  before  stated,  in  the  extent  and  mode 
of  execution  of  the  powers  granted  to  the  general  government. 

The  entire  argument  against  the  right  of  secession  rested  on  a 
denial  of  this  doctrine. 

That  denial  was  never  made  by  any  respectable  authority  until, 
during  the  nullification  and  agitation  of  1831-3,  Webster  and 
Story  stepped  into  the  lists  as  chamjjions  of  an  indisso- 
luble Union. 

These  were  great  men  and  great  lawyers.  They  saw,  and  in- 
deed a  reference  to  their  works  will  show,  that  they  admitted 
that,  if  the  doctrine  above  stated  w^ere  correct,  the  right  of  se- 
cession could  not  be  successfully  disputed. 

Thej"  therefore  took  bold  ground  against  it.  They  denied  that 
the  Constitution  was  a  compact  at  all.  They  denied  that,  even 
if  a  comi)act,  it  was  one  to  which  the  States  were  the  parties. 
They  asserted  that  the  government  created  thereby  was  a  Na- 
tional, and  not  a  Federal  Government.  They  asserted  that  the 
Constitution  was  ordained  and  established  by  the  consent,  not  of 
the  States,  but  of  "the  whole  people  of  the  United  States  in  the 
aggregate,"  and  could  only  be  undone  by  like  consent. 

In  ^iew  of  the  historical  record  which  I  have  faintly  sketched, 
and  which  might  have  been  indefinitely  extended,  the  mind  is 
stupefied  at  the  utter  impotence  of  human  language  as  a  vehicle 
of  thought,  when  it  encounters  such  opposite  interpretations  of  a 
written  instrument,  and  discovers  that  after  the  lapse  of  forty 
years,  time  sufficient  to  have  consigned  to  their  tombs  nearly 
every  one  of  those  who  had  aided  in  its  confection,  a  construction 
should  be  advanced  diametrically  oi)posed  to  what  they  had 
declared,  in  every  form,  to  be  their  veritable  meaning. 

Of  course,  it  would  not  be  possible  for  me,  within  the  limits  of 


18  OEATIOX. 

this  addresSj.to  state  all  the  ar<iuiiieiit.s  advaneecl  by  Webster 
and  Story,  iu  support  of  their  theory,  or  the  answers  matle  to 
them;  but  oue  or  two  of  the  most  salieut  deserve  attention. 

To  show  tliat  tlie  government  was  Xational  and  not  Federal, 
they  seized  upon  the  first  resolution  adojjted  l»y  the  convention, 
which  declared  that  a  "  Xational  Government  ought  to  be  estab- 
lished, consisting-  of  a  supreme  legislative,  executive  and  judi- 
ciary. "'  This  resolution  was  proposed  before  the  convention  was 
full ;  and  how  shall  we  restrain  our  wonder  at  the  reUauce  placed 
upon  it,  when,  in  the  record  of  the  further  i)roceediugs  of  the 
Convention,  we  learn  that,  upon  motion  of  Ellsworth,  of  Connec- 
ticut, and  ui)on  his  exi)ressed  objection  to  the  term  "  jSTational,  " 
the  resolution  was  altered,  nem.  con.,  so  as  to  read  that  "  the 
Government  of  the  United  States  ought  to  consist,  "  etc.  Thus 
the  convention  CKj^ressly  repudiated  the  term  "  National  Gov- 
ernment,'' and  substituted  therefor  words  expressive  of  the  Fed- 
eral character  of  the  government;  and,  indeed,  as  already  shown, 
in  the  letter  recommending  the  ratification  of  the  Constitution, 
the  convention  expressly  described  it  as  the  "  Federal  Govern- 
ment of  these  States. " 

The  grand  clieval  de  hattaiUe  of  their  argument,  however,  was 
the  jireamble  of  the  Constitution  itself,  which  declares  that  "We, 
the  people  of  tbe  United  States.  *******  ordain 
and  establish  this  Constitution  for  the  United  States  of 
America." 

There  is  no  d(mbt  that  these  words,  more  than  all  other  con- 
siderations combined,  have  lent  force  to  the  argument  of  those 
who  sui)i)orted  the  National  theory  of  the  government ;  and 
had  the  plain  exiilauatiou  of  their  use  which  has  since  been 
given,  b«'en  advanced  at  the  time  when  the  question  arose,  it  is 
doubtful  if  that  theory  would  ever  have  attained  the  acceptation 
which  it  received. 

"What  is  that  exi^lanation,  so  appaieiit  and  conclusive,  and 
yet,  so  far  as  1  am  aware,  first  advanced,  after  the  war,  by  that 
great  publicist,  Albert  Taylor  Bledsoe  ?  It  is  this  :  The  original 
draft  of  the  Constitution,  instead  of  using  in  its  preamble  the 
words  "We,  the  i)eople  of  the  United  States,"  used  the  words 
"We,  the  people  of  the  States  of  Virginia,  Massachusetts,  etc.," 
specifying  each  State  b}\|^name  as  parties  to  the  comi)act.  So 
matters  stood  until  tlie  language  of  theX'oustitution  was  submit- 


ORATION.  19 

ted  to  tlie  revi.sioiiof  a 'M'omiMittcH'  on  style."  Tliat  coiiiiiiittee 
diseovered  tliat  under  tlie  provisions  r«'lative  to  tlie  nmdv  ot  rati- 
fication wliich  directed  that  the  accession  of  any  nine  Stiftes 
should  carry  the  Constitution  into  crtect,  the  naming  of  all  or  any 
of  the  States  iu  the  preamble  was  imi)rafticaltk',  because  it  might 
well  l)e  that  all  the  States  would  uot  ratify,  and  it  would  be  im- 
possible to  state  in  advauce  which  nine  of  them  would  do  so. 
How  then  were  they  to  be  named  ?  It  thus  became  absolutely 
necessary  to  strike  out  the  enumeration  of  the  States,  and  to 
substitute  some  general  phrase  which  should  embrace  those 
States  which  should  ratify  and  exclude  those  which  should  r«^ject 
the  Constitution.  Such  a  ])hrase  was  discovered  in  the  words, 
''the  people  of  the  United  States,"  by  which  the  convention 
surely  did  not  intend  to  alter  the  entire  nature  of  the  instrument, 
but  oidy  meant  the  respecti\^e  ]>eoi)les  of  the  several  States,  uot 
named  only  because  unknown,  which  should  thereafter  become 
parties,  and,  by  consenting-  to  the  proposed  Union,  become 
thereby  United  States.  Gouverueur  Morris,  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  chairman  of  the  committee  on  style  which  reported  this  al- 
teration in  the  i^reamble,  and  he  informs  us  in  one  of  his  letters, 
that  the  Constitution,  in  its  final  shape,  was  "written  by  the  fin- 
gers which  write  this  letter."  He,  therefore,  wrote  the  words, 
"We,  the  people  of  the  United  States,"  in  the  i^reamble,  and 
should  have  known  better  than  any  other  what  was  their  true 
import.  He  was  one  of  the  most  pronounced  advocates  of  a 
strong-  government.  The  record  shows  that  he  had  actually 
moved  the  reference  of  the  Constitution  for  ratification  to  "one 
general  convention  chosen  and  authorized  by  the  people,  to  con- 
sider, to  amend  and  establish  the  same,"  but  that  his  motion  had 
not  even  received  a  second.  AVhat  becomes,  then,  of  the  argu- 
ment based  on  this  expression  of  the  preamble,  when  we  find 
that  Gouverueur  Morris,  its  author,  Avith  his  well  known  desire 
to  establish  a  Xational  government,  himself  declares  iu  his  writ- 
ings, that  "the  Consitution  was  a- compact,  not  between  individu- 
als, but  between  political  societies,  the  peoi>le,  not  of  America, 
but  of  the  United  States,  each  (State)  enjoying  sovereign  power, 
and,  of  course,  equal  rights." 

Time  and  the  occasion  admonish  me  that  1  must  arrest  here 
the  discussion  of  this  interesting  historical  question.  1  have,  of 
course,  barely  indicated  the  faint  outlines  of  the  grand  argument 


20  ORATION. 

sustainiiio:  tlie  riglit  of  secession.  Those  who  desire  to  go  deep- 
er may  consult  those  great  storehouses  of  facts  and  principles, 
theVorks  of  Calhoun,  Bledsoe,  Stephens,  Sage,  and  our  immortal 
leader,  Jetterson  Davis. 

It  is  not  for  me  dogmatically  to  proclaim  that  we  were  right 
and  that  the  supporters  of  the  Union  were  wrong.  I  sliall  have 
a4,'compIislied  a  duty,  and  shall,  as  I  believe,  have  rendered  a 
service  to  the  whole  Union,  if  what  I  have  said  shall  contribute 
to  confirm  the  Southern  people  in  the  veneration  and  respect 
justly  due  to  tlie  cause  for  which  their  fathers  fought,  and,  at  the 
same  time,  to  moderate  the  vehemence  with  Avhich  many  of  the 
Northern  people  have  denounced  that  cause  as  mere  wicked  and 
unreasoning  treason.  The  war  may  have  established  that  the 
Constitution  no  longer  bhids  the  States  by  a  mere  love  tie,  but 
by  a  Gordian  knot,  which  only  the  sword  can  sever ;  yet  all 
patriots  will  admit  that  the  safest  guarantee  of  its  permanence 
must  lie  in  the  mutual  respect  and  forbearance  from  insult  of  all 
sections  of  the  people  toward  each  other. 

Far  be  it  from  me  to  impugn  the  motives  of  those  who  ad- 
vocated and  enforced  the  indissolubility  of  the  Union. 

In  union  the  States  had  achieved  their  independence.  In 
union,  at  a  later  time,  during  the  infancy  of  the  Eepublic,  they 
had  defied  again  the  power  of  the  mightiest  nation  of  the  earth, 
and  had  vindicated  their  capacity  to  protect  and  defend  the 
rights  which  they  had  so  dearly  won.  In  union  they  had  sub- 
dued the  savage,  leveled  jnimeval  forests,  subjected  vast  wilder- 
nesses to  the  sway  of  peaceful  pox)ulations  and  happy  hus- 
bandry, borne  the  ensign  of  the  Eepublic  to  the  capital  of  a 
foreign  foe,  extended  their  frontiers  till  they  embraced  a 
continent  and  swelled  their  population  to  a  strength  which 
might  defy  the  world  in  arms.  In  union  the  sails  of  their  com- 
merce whitened  every  sea,  wealth  poured  in  affluent  streams  into 
their  laps,  education  flourished,  science  and  art  took  root  and 
grew  apace,  and  those  ancient  foes,  religion  and  toleration,  lib- 
erty and  law,  public  order  and  individual  freedom,  locked  hands 
and  worked  together  to  magnify  and  glorify  the  grandest,  hap- 
piest and  freest  people  that  ever  flourished  "in  the  tides  of  time." 

The  contemplation  of  this  exhilarating  spectacle  naturally 
tightened  the  bands  of  the  Union  and  infiamed  the  minds  of  the 


ORATION.  21 

people  with  a  deep  i)atriotisin,    which   teiulcd  iiKtre  and  more  to 
centre  ronnd  the  Federal  Government. 

When,  in  IS.v),  wliih'  the  <ih)rious  panorama  T  have  jnst 
sketelied  was  >still  being-  nnrolled,  npon  a  comparatively  trilling 
occasion,  behind  the  absurd  spectre  of  Nullification  appeared  the 
gigantic  figure  of  the  Right  of  Secessicm,  i)anoplied  though  it 
was  from  head  to  foot  in  the  armor  of  the  Constitution,  it  struck 
terror  to  the  souls  of  the  lovers  of  the  Union,  and  shook  even 
the  firm  ])oise  of  the  aged  jMadison.  It  threatened  at  a  touch  and 
uj^on  inadequate  cause  to  crumble  into  ruin  the  grand  fabric 
which  had  been  builded  with  such  pain  and  had  risen  to  such 
majestic  height. 

It  conjured  up  before  the  quick  imagination  of  Mr.  Webster 
that  terrible  vision  of  a  Union  quenched  in  blood,  of  "  States 
discordant,  dissevered,  belligerent,"  of  strength  frittered  away 
by  division,  of  liberty  imperilled  by  the  conflicts  of  her  de- 
votees, of  the  high  hopes  of  humanity  blasted  by  the  ambi- 
tions, dissensions  and  conflicting  interests  of  jarring  sovereign- 
ties. 

In  my  humble  judgment  Mr.  "Webster's  was  the  grand- 
est civic  intellect  that  America  has  produced.  The  most  prodi- 
gious achievement  of  his  eloquence  and  genius  was  the  success 
with  which  he  darkened  and,  to  the  minds  of  nmny,  actually 
obliterated  the  clear  historical  record  which  I  have  heretofore 
exhibited,  confuted  the  very  authors  of  the  Constitution  as  to 
the  meaning  and  etfect  of  their  own  language,  and  may  be  said 
substantially  to  have  created  and  imposed  upon  the  American 
people  a  new  and  different  Constitution  from  that  under  which 
they  had  lived  for  so  considerable  a  period. 

Yet  we  must  forgive  unich  to  the  motives  and  inspirations  upon 
which  he  acted. 

Ah,  well  had  it  been  if  all  the  followers  of  Mr.  Webster  had 
been  inspired  by  his  own  deep  respect  for  the  guaranties  and 
limitations  of  the  Constitution. 

Time  and  inclination  alike  restrain  me  from  any  particular 
notice  of  the  direct  causes  which  provoked  the  actual  assertion 
of  the  right  of  secession. 

Suffice  it  to  say  that  events  occurred  and  conflicts  arose  which 
rendered  impossible  the  continuance  of  a  voluntary  union.  The 
predestined  strife  was  not  to  be  averted.     Passion  usnri)ed   the 


2.;  ORATION. 

seat  of  reason.  Dissension  swelled  into  defiance,  eliiding- grew 
into  fierce  recrimination,  constant  (quarrel  ripened  into  liate.  In 
vain  did  those  who  clung  to  the  Constitntion  seek  "upon  the 
heat  and  tlanie  of  this  distemper  to  sprinkle  cool  patience." 
Fourteen  Xorthern  States,  in  their  so-termed  '' personal  liberty 
bills,"  openly  nullified  the  Constitution  in  that  very  clause  which 
had  been  the  ccuidition  .<iine  qua  non,  upon  which  the  Southern 
States  had  acceded  to  the  compact.  A  sectional  party  was 
formed  upon  a  basis  known  and  designed  to  exclude  from  its 
ranks  the  entire  people  of  fifteen  Staffs.  An  election  delivered 
the  control  of  the  Federal  government  into  the  hands  of  this 
party. 

Perhaps  these  and  all  other  causes  might  have  not  been  suffi- 
cient to  justify  a  resort  to  revolution.  Perhaps  allegiance  due 
might  have  borne  the  strain  of  greater  wrongs  than  any  with 
which  we  were  oi)pressed  or  threatened. 

But  a  broken  bargain,  civic  strife,  the  triumph  of  a  sectional 
party  whose  electoral  majority  left  no  hope  that  it  could  be  over- 
come, surely  justified  the  minority  of  States  in  peacefully  with- 
drawing from  the  Union,  which  they  believed,  upon  the  solid 
grounds  which  T  have  stated,  to  have  been  created  and  to  exist, 
as  to  them,  only  by  virtue  of  their  original  and  continued  con- 
sent. 

Although  Lee,  with  thousands  of  other  Southern  inen,  be- 
lieved the  justification  to  be  iiisuflicient,  and  opposed  secession, 
this  fact,  while  rendering  his  duty  more  difficult,  did  not  leave 
it  less  clear,  under  his  theory  of  the  government,  to  yield  his  al- 
legiance to  his  native  State. 

And  here  I.  leave  the  cause  of  Lee  to  be  judged  at  the  bar  of 
impartial  history. 

Tliat  'cause  x>resents  this  singular  chiim  to  the  considerate 
judgment  of  its  adversaries,  that  we,  who  fought  for  it,  have 
done  and  will  do  Avhat  in  us  lies  to  gild  their  triumph  by  making 
the  restored  Union  so  prolific  in  benefits  to  all  coming  genera- 
tions that  our  ])osterity,  while  respecting  the  principles  and  con- 
victions for  which  we  fought,  may  rejoice  in  our  defeat. 

The  Constitntion  yet  lives,  an  imperishable  nn)nument  to  the 
Avisdom  of  those  who  franu*d  it,  capable,  if  preserved  in  its  integ- 
rity, of  accom])lishing  all  their  beneficent  })nrposes,  and  consecrat- 
ing forever  the  co-ordinated  rights  of  individual   liberty,    local 


ORATION.  23 

selfjuoveniineiit  and  union  for  "tlic  coniniou  defense  and  general 
welfare." 

Turn  we  now  to  the  caiiipaijiiis  of  our  hero.  Lee's  caiiipaij^'iis 
were  the  poetry  of  soldiership,  so  grand  and  simple  in  their  con- 
ception, so  masterly  in  tlicir  execution,  so  daring  in  their  at- 
tempts, so  astounding  in  their  results,  tliat  the  simplest  intelli- 
genee  may  eoiiipicliend  and  the  dullest  admire  them. 

They  are  not  to  be  regarded  as  made  u])  of  merely  detached 
and  independent  marches  and  battles  springing  from  the  hapha- 
zard order  of  events,  but  are,  from  first  to  last,  tlie  development 
of  a  uniform  and  consistent  plan  of  operations,  based  on  the  pro- 
foundest  science  of  strategy,  and  having  in  view  the  accomplish- 
ment of  a  specific  purpose.  That  purpose  may  be  announced  at 
once  to  have  been  the  defense  of  Eichmoud.  Richnu)nd  was  not 
merely  important  as  being  the  capital  of  the  Confederacj',  but 
also  as  being-  the  grand  centre  of  depots,  arsenals  and  military 
manufactures  necessary  to  the  support  of  an  army  operating 
north  of  it,  and  as  the  only  point  having  railroad  connections 
with  the  South  sufficient  for  transportation  of  necessary  supplies. 

The  position  of  the  Federal  capital  on  the  banks  of  the  Poto- 
mac, and  the  exposure  of  the  Southern  border  of  the  United 
States  along-  the  line  of  Maryland  and  Pennsylvania,  made  it  of 
transcendent  importance  that  the  countrv  intervening-  between 
liichmond  and  Washington  should  be  made  and  kept,  as  far  as 
possible,  the  theatre  of  the  war.  The  retirement  of  the  Con- 
federate forces  from  Kentucky,  Tennessee  and  ^lissouri,  thus 
practically  relieving  the  Southern  border  of  the  United  States 
from  menace  in  that  direction,  had  removed  a  great  source  of 
alarm  to  them,  an<l  had  liberated  for  oi»erations  at  other  points 
the  vast  forces  which  would  have  been  reipiired  for  the  defense 
of  that  line.  Had  we  been  forced  to  retire  from  Virginia  also, 
besides  the  immense  moral  and  material  loss,  the  removal  of  the 
seat  of  war  entirely  away  from  the  Northern  capital  and  terri- 
tory, would  have  freed  the  large  forces  constantly  engaged  in 
their  protection  to  concentrate  around  us  in  a  narrowing  circle 
of  fire,  eventuating  inevitably  in  our  ultimate  destruction.  The 
Confederacy  fell  with  the  forced  evacuation  of  liichmond.  It  is 
certain  it  could  not  long  have  survived  its  earlier  \()luntary 
abandonment. 

The  task  of  defending-  Richmond  was,  as  1  have  said,  the  task 


24  ORATION. 

of  Leo  ;  and  it  was  the  most  difiicult  one  ever  assigned  to  any 
soldier.  Tlie  prime  necessity  was  to  avoid  a  siege.  Once  shut 
nj)  in  the  fortifications  of  Kicliiiiond,  the  city  was  h>st,  for  the 
(litiiculties  of  its  defense  wouhl  have  been  insuperable;  because 
it  would  have  involved  the  i)rotection  of  long  lines  of  railroad, 
without  w  liich  the  army  could  not  be  sustained,  and  in  view  of 
the  enormous  forces  Avliich  could  have  been  concentrated  by  the 
enemy,  this  would  have  been  imiiossible. 

Yet  conceive  the  difficulty  of  avoiding  such  a  siege,  when  you 
reflect  that  by  the  undisputed  i)ossession  of  the  fJanics  and  York 
rivers,  and  with  the  aid  of  their  powerful  flotillas  of  transport 
ships  and  gunboats,  the  enemy  was  able,  at  any  time,  without  the 
l)ossil)ility  of  oi)i)osition  by  us,  to  land  an  army  within  a  day's 
march  of  our  capital,  and  to  support  it  there  by  deep  water  lines 
of  supply,  which  we  could  neither  destroy  nor  interrupt. 

Ko  invading  army  ever  had  such  advantages  as  the  ^vTortheru 
Army  of  the  Potomac.  The  greatest  difficulty  of  successful  in- 
vasion, the  protection  of  its  lines  of  communication  with  its  base 
of  supplies  and  reinforcements,  was  i)ractically  eliminated  from 
the  problem  ;  for  not  only  were  the  water  routes  of  the  James 
and  the  York  open  almost  to  the  gates  of  Richmond,  but  even 
when  it  finally  uujved  from  the  direction  of  Culpeper  Court  House, 
its  path  lay  across  successive  lines  of  communication,  so  that,  in 
the  words  of  a  ifliilosophic  commentator  on  the  campaigns,  "it 
abandoned  one,  only  to  find  another  and  a  safer  at  the  end  of 
every  march."  At  Culpeper  Court-House,  the  Orange  and  Al- 
exandria Eailroad  was  its  line.  When  it  abandoned  that,  its 
halts  at  the  Wilderness  and  Spottsylvania  Court-House  oj)ened 
up  a  new  line  via  Acquia  Creek.  As  it  advanced  to  the  Annas, 
the  Jiappahannock  at  Port  Royal  furnished  another  efficient 
water  line.  When  it  reached  the  Pamunkey,  the  York  river  and 
Chesa])eake  Bay  gave  it  one  still  more  efficient;  and  finally, 
when  its  last  march  brought  it  to  the  James,  that  great  river 
formed  a  perfectly  safe  avenue  to  Washington. 

When  these  facts  are  considered,  in  connection  with  the  enorm- 
ous disparity  of  numbers  and  resources  now  denu)nstrated  be- 
yond the  possibility  of  question  by  the  historical  records  of  the 
two  armies,  Lee's  successfnl  <lefensc  of  Richnu)nd  for  three  years 
must  take  its  place  in  history  as  one  of  the  grandest  military 
achievements  of  ancient  or  of  modern  times.     Had  like   success 


ORATION.  25 

attended  the  Confederate  (►lu'ralions  in  other  directions,  tlie 
backbont^  of  the  war  would,  undoubtedly,  have  been  broken.  As 
it  was,  the  tremendous  blows  of  Lee  so  staggered  his  a<lversary 
that  the  issue  hiy  in  doubt  to  the  very  last,  and  at  more  tlian 
one  period  in  the  contest  the  Northern  cause  barely  escaped  col- 
lai)se. 

Follow  nic  now  in  a  rapi<l  sketch  of  the  mere  outline  of  the 
marvelous  campai<'iis. 

After  the  indecisive  battle  of  Seven  Pines,  and  the  iinfortunate 
wounding-  of  the  first  commander  of  the  Army  of  Northern  Vir- 
ginia, that  skillful  sohlier,  Josei>h  E.  Johnston,  his  successor  in 
command.  Gen.  ir.  W.  Smith,  had  retired  the  army  to  its  encamp- 
ments near  Richmond,  and  there  it  was  when,  on  June  2,  1802, 
Lee  assumed  command.  Its, elective  strength,  using  round  num- 
bers, (as  1  shall  continue  to  do)  ws\g  Jifty-six  thousand  men. 
Mc(31cllan,  an  able  connnander,  who,  in  the  first  year  of  the  war, 
adopted  that  route  to  Kiclnnond,  tlie  return  to  which  after  many 
disasters,  at  last  led  to  its  capture,  at  that  moment  lay,  pos- 
sibly within  sight  of  the  spires,  certainly  within  sound  of  the 
bells  of  the  ch niches  of  Richmond,  with  a  i)resent  effective  force 
oi one  hundred  and  fire  thousand.  ."McDowell,  ^yith  forty  thousand 
men,  the  tlower  of  the  Federal  Army,  Avas  en  route  to  reinforce 
McClellan,  while  strong-  forces  under  Baidcs  and  Fremont  were 
operating-  in  the  Valley.  Jackson,  with  a  force  never  exceeding 
sixt^jen  tlnmsand,  was  still  engaged  in  that  wonderful  series  of 
operations  in  the  Valley  wliich  resulted  in  the  successive  defeats 
of  Banks,  Fremont  and  Shields,  and  in  the  utter  paralysis  of  the 
movement  of  McDowell  to  reinforce  McClellan.  It  was  still  evi- 
dent, however,  that  this  i)ara]ysis  Avas  but  temporary,  and  that 
with  renewed  concentration  of  the  vast  though  shattered  forces 
ot  the  enemy,  Jackson,  with  his  little  army  reduced  by  forced 
maridiing  and  constant  fighting,  would  have  no  alternative  but 
to  retire  to  the  defenses  of  Kichmoml,  which  Avould  be  reduced 
to  a  state  of  siege  by  the  coml)ined  and  overwhelming  Federal 
armies. 

Nothing-  less  than  the  geinus  of  Lee  could  have  relieved 
such  a  situation.  To  await  tlie  tardy  attack  of  McClellan,  while 
the  movement  for  the  annihilation  or  forced  retreat  of  Jackson 
and  the  reinforcement  by  McDowell  Avas  resumed,  would  be 
fatal. 


26  ORATION. 

With  additional  troops  already  received,  and  by  calling  Jack- 
son to  him,  Lee  would  have  a  force  of  eif/hfy  thousand  men  with 
which  to  engage  the  one  hioulred  and  fire  thousand  of  ^NlcClel- 
lan.  ^^'hile  the  latter  (leneral  was  clamoring  for  reinforcements 
and  maturing  his  iilans  of  assault,  Lee  determiued  to  order  Jack- 
son to  his  supi)ort,  and  with  the  bulk  of  his  army  to  march  rapidly 
out  of  his  lines,  cross  the  ChicUahominy,  gain  McClclhurs  right 
and  there  assault  him  on  his  tlaiik. 

The  brilliant  audacity  of  this  plan  maybe  appreciated  when 
you  renuMuber  that  in  its  execution  he  left  but  twenty-five  thou- 
sand men  between  the  arjiiy  of  McClellan  and  Kiclmioncl,  and 
exposed  his  ona^u  rear  without  a  man  intervening  between  it  and 
the  large  force  of  ^McDowell. 

Its  profound  strategic  wisdom  is <,  demonstrated  by  the  result 
of  the  glorious  seven  days'  battle  which  followed,  at  the  end  of 
which  we  find  the  grand  army  of  McClellan,  its  dream  of  tri- 
umi)hal  entry  into  the  Confederate  capital  vanished,  cowering, 
shattered  and  demoralized,  at  Harrison's  Landing,  on  the  James, 
under  the  protection  of  the  powerful  gunboats^  which  alone 
saved  it  from  destruction. 

It  is  a  cold,  historic  fact  that  after  deducting  losses  of  the  bat- 
tles and  stragglers,  Lee  with  slvty-tico  thousand  men  pursued  Mc- 
Clellan with  ///^/^'^// /Ao?<.svn/^/  to  the  banks  of  the  James ;  yet  so 
had  the  handling  of  the  Confederate  force  multiplied  its  num- 
bers in  the  imagination  of  McClellan,  that  his  dispatches  in- 
fornuHl  his  Government  tliat  he  had  been  overwhelmed  by  an 
enemy  not  less  than  two  humlrcd  thousand  strong! 

Iiichmond  was  relieved  and  for  the  moment  safe;  but  the  situ- 
ation was  full  of  i>eril. 

The  army  of  ^IcClellan,  resting  in  its  impregnable  ])osition 
within  a  day's  march  of  Richmond,  reorganized  and  strength- 
ened with  reinforcements;  would,  if  left  undisturbtMl,  soon  be  in 
]>osition  to  lesume  oftensi\'e  o]»erations.  ^le;inwhile  the  Federal 
forces  in  the  olhi'r  dire<'tion  had  l»ccn  ])lac('d  under  a  new  com- 
mander, Maj.  (Jen.  Jolin  Pope,  who,  at  the  head  of  4.).0()(>  men, 
was  organizing  a  bold  cam]>aign  to  operate  against  l\ichmond  in 
connection   witii  Mcdellaii. 

Lee  determined  that  the  easiest  way  to  remove  IMcClellau  from 
the  James  would  be  to  threat<'n  the  inferior  force  of  Pope,  upon 
which     t lie  protection    of  Washington  depended.      Accordingly, 


ORATION.  27 

he  (lispatclicd  .Tjicksou  with  tirrlrc  tJiou.sdiid  iiicii  in  rlic  (liroction 
of  G()r(h)iis\  illc  to  tlneatcii  IN)])('.  Tliis  left  liiiii  with  only 
Jifty-cUiht  ili<>)is<ni<l  iiion  to  confront  tlic  ninciy  tliou.sand  of 
McCh'llan;  l»iit  tlie  hitter  (reneral  still  reniaininj'-  inaetive,  Lee,  a 
week  later,  further  depleted  his  force  by  sending-  A.  l\  Hill's 
division  to  reinforce  Jackson.  Jackson,  with  his  force  of  about 
eighteen  thou.samt  men,  did  not  hesitate  to  attack  L'ope  with 
thirty-seren  thousand  at  hand,  and  more  in  easy  reach,  and  won  the 
victory  at  Cedar  Kun.  This  bold  feat  had  the  effect  of  checking 
all  serious  advance  on  the  part  of  Poi)e,  and  of  so  alarming  the 
Washington  authorities  for  the  safety  of  their  capital,  that  thej' 
accouiplished  the  verj-  j)urpose  of  Lee,  by  ordering  the  transfer 
of  McC'lellan's  army  to  the  supi)ort  of  Pope.  This  enal)led  Lee 
to  dispatch  the  rest  of  his  own  force  in  the  same  direction.  Mc- 
Clellan's  forces  were  being  rapidly  transported  to  Alexandria  an<l 
moving  to  the  support  of  Pope.  If  suffered  to  complete  their 
junction  the  tbrce  of  the  enemy  would  be  overwhelmingly  supe- 
rior. The  only  hope  was  to  annihilate  Pope  before  the  whole  of 
McClellau's  force  could  reach  him.  To  accomplish  this,  an  at- 
tack upon  P<;pe's  front,  even  if  successful,  would  be  unavailing, 
because  that  would  only  drive  him  back  upon  McClellan.  Lee, 
therefore,  determine<l  upon  a  movement  nnsurpassed  for  boldness 
in  the  annals  of  war.  lie  threw  his  whole  army  entirely  around 
the  right  flank  of  Pope,  and,  by  rapid  marching,  gained  his  rear, 
thus  establishing  himsell  directly  between  the  two  hostile  armies, 
each  outnumbering  his  own.  His  safety  dej)ended  njjon  the  i^rompt 
defeat  of  Pope.  Failure  Avas  destruction.  Lee  had  fifty  thou- 
sand, Pope  seventy-five  thousand  men.  Lender  these  circumstances 
the  great  battle  of  the  second  Manassas  was  delivered,  resulting 
in  the  complete  defeat  of  Pope  and  the  retirement  of  his  entire 
army  within  the  defenses  of  Washington. 

Thus,  within  ninety  days  from  the  date  of  his  assuming  com- 
mand, the  genius  of  Lee,  operating  against  over-whelming  odds, 
had  completely  reversed  the  relative  situation  of  the  contending 
forces,  and  rolled  back  the  tide  of  war  fi*om  the  fortifications  of 
Richmond  to  the  outposts  of  Washington. 

But  the  task  of  the  Confederate  commander  was  like  that  of 
Sysii)hus. 

He  stood  victorious  in  battle,  but  what  was  he  to  do  with  his 
victory  *     The  attempt  to  besiege  or  assault  the  Federal  army  in 


28  ORATION. 

tlie  defenses  of  AVasliington  was  too  absurd  for  serious  coutem- 
platioii.  He  could  not  maintain  Lis  army  in  its  then  advanced 
position,  because  the  country  was  stripped  of  supplies,  and  there 
was  no  railroad  comiuuiiicatiou  witli  IJiclunoud  nearer  than  the 
Kapidan.  To  fall  back  would  be  to  forfeit  the  prestige  of  suc- 
cess, and  to  leave  the  enemy,  with  his  overwhelming  numbers 
free  to  organize  anotlier  expedition,  by  the  water  route  of  the 
James,  to  the  gates  of  Kichmond,  and  thus  to  reinstate  the  peril 
which  had  just  been  averted. 

The  bold  resolve  was  quickly  taken  to  cross  the  Potomoc,  find 
subsistence  on  the  enemy's  soil,  force  his  adversar}'  to  leave  his 
fortifications  and  meet  him  on  a  battlefield  of  his  own  selection, 
wliere  a  victory  might  arouse  the  discontented  people  of  Mary- 
land, and  lead  to  other  advantages  of  incalculable  value. 

A  formidable  Federal  force  o^twelre  thousand  men  lay  atHarper's 
Ferry,  on  the  tiank  and  rear  of  liis  intended  movement.  It  was  ab- 
solutely essential  that  this  force  should  be  captured  or  dispersed. 
This  must  be  done  certainly  and  qnickly,  and,  to  make  sure,  a 
strong  force  mnst  be  dispatched  for  the  purpose.  He  therefore, 
detached  Jackson  Avitb  five  divisions  to  sweep  this  obstacle  from 
the  path,  and  then  by  rapid  marching  to  rejoin  him  in  time  to 
join  battle  with  the  army  of  McClellan.  Lee  retained,  in  the 
meanwhile,  only  three  divisions  to  confront  that  vast  force,  trust- 
ing that  Jackson's  task  would  be  accomplished  before  McClellan 
should  discover  the  weakness  of  the  force  left  to  oppose  him. 
There  is  no  reason  to  doubt  that  the  plan  would  have  succeeded, 
but  for  one  of  those  accidents  which  "turn  awry"  the  best  laid 
schemes.  One  of  Lee's  orders  to  his  general  officers  formulating 
the  movement,  was  lost  in  some  way  and  fell  into  the  hands  of 
rhe  enemy.  McClellan,  thus  fortuitously  apprised  of  the  depart- 
ure of  Jackson  and  of  the  slight  force  left  to  ojipose  him,  was 
(juick  to  hurl  his  army  upon  the  latter,  confident  of  annihilating 
it  belbre  .Jackson  could  come  to  its  rescue.  The  situation  was 
fraught  with  peril,  but  the  heroic  resistance  of  this  small  force  at 
South  Mountain  Pass  and  (^rampton's  Gap,  held  ]McClellan  in 
check  until  Jackson  by  tremendous  forced  marches,  having  ac- 
comi)lished  the  object  of  his  detour,  was  able  to  rejoin  it;  and  Lee 
was  thus  enable<l,  at  last,  to  concentrate  his  army  for  the  battle 
of  Sharpsburg.  The  accident  of  the  lost  order,  however,  de- 
stroyed the  chance  of  that  success  Mhich   might  otherwise  have 


ORATION.  29 

atteiidiMl  tliis  luilliaiitly  planned  exijeditiou.  Tlie  divisions  with 
Lee  reaolu'd  Sliarpsbuig  worn  and  fatigued,  and  with  ranks 
decimated  by  the  severe  lijilitinj;-  they  had  undergone,  while  the 
extraordinary  forced  marches  to  which  JTlckson  was  driven,  had 
strewed  his  route  w  ith  exhausted  and  broken-down  men. 

Lee  delivered  battle  in  this  engagement  with  thirty-Jice  thuus- 
anil  men,  worn  out  and  exhausted  as  we  have  seen,  against 
eighty-seven  thousand  under  MeClellan.  The  result  w^as  a  drawn 
battle,  both  sides  resting  on  their  arms  the  following  day,  on  the 
night  of  which  Lee,  quietly  and  without  molestation,  retired  his 
army  across  the  Potomac. 

But  for  the  lost  order,  nothing  indicates  a  doubt  that,  after  the 
success  of  Jackson's  movement,  Lee  would  have  effected  an  un- 
opposed and  leisurely  concentration  of  his  forces,  in  a  position 
chosen  by  himself,  where,  with  at  least  fifty  thousand  men,  fresh 
and  elated  with  victory,  he  Avould  have  met  the  onslaught  of  Me- 
Clellan. The  result  of  the  engagement  actually  delivered,  as 
well  as  Of  past  contests,  leaves  little  doubt  that  an  overwhelming 
victory  would  have  been  achieved,  the  consequences  of  which  no 
man  can  now  divine. 

Xot  untd  October,  1862,  did  the  Federal  army  recross  the  Po- 
tomac. A  new  commander,  Gen.  Burnside,  now  leapt  into  the 
saddle.  His  career  in  that  capacity  was  speedily  ended  by  the 
crushing  defeat  at  Fredericksburg,  where,  with  one  hundred 
thousand  men,  he  had  the  temerity  to  assault  Lee  in  strong  posi- 
tion with  seventy-flee  thousand.  This  was  the  easiest  victory  of 
the  war,  intiicting  terrific  loss  upon  the  attacking  force,  while 
that  of  Lee  "was  insignilicant. 

The  next  act  of  this  tremendous  drama  opens  with  the  spring 
of  1863,  when  Lee,  with  fifty -seven  thousand  men,  confronted 
Hooker,  the  new  Federal  commander  with  one  hundred  and  thirty- 
two  thousand. 

JS"ow,  Lee,  look  to  thy  charge !  These  be  odds  which  might 
well  strike  terror  to  the  stoutest  heart. 

Sedgwick,  with  a  strong  force,  crossed  the  river  below  Fred- 
ericksburg and  demonstrated  against  Lee's  front,  while  Hooker, 
with  the  bulk  of  his  army,  swept  around  Lee's  left,  crossing  at 
the  upper  fords,  and  concentrated  at  Chancellorsville,  in  posi- 
tion, not  ten  miles  removed,  to  assail  Lee  in  left  flank  and  rear. 
The  ordinary  commander  would  have  escaped  from  this  cul-de-sac 


30  ORATION. 

by  pi()iiii)tly  retiring'  his  army  and  e.stabli.sliing  it  between  his 
enemy  and  coveted  Eichmoud.  But  Lee  never  failed  to  find, 
in  the  division  of  his  adversary's  forces,  an  opportunity  to  neu- 
tralize, as  far  as  possible,  tlie  otlds  against  him,  by  striking  him 
in  fragments.  Lee's  resolve  was  promptly  taken.  Leaving  the 
galhnit  Early  Avith  only  nine  thonsaxd  men  to  handle  Sedgwick, 
he  liimself  with  th<^  forty-eight  tJioumnd  remaining,  marched 
straight  for  Chancellorsville,  vigorously  assaulted  the  advance 
of  Hooker  and  soon  placed  that  i)ortion  of  the  Federal  army  on 
a  serious  defensive.  Xo  time  was  to  be  lost.  Sedgwick  would 
soon  drive  back  the  inferior  force  of  Early,  aaidcome  thundering 
on  his  rear.  Hooker  must  be  disposed  of  promptly,  or  all  was 
lost.  Hooker  had  serentij-Jive  thousand  men  well  entrenched, 
which  Avas  inci eased  to  ninety  thousand  before  the  battle  was 
over.  Direct  assault  was  desperate,  if  not  hopeless.  "The  lion's 
skin  is  too  short,  we  must  eke  it  out  with  the  fox's." 

By  a  movement  whose  inconceivable  boldness  alone  insured  its 
success,  he  still  further  divided  his  force,  and  remaining  with 
only  14,000  men  in  Hooker's  front,  he  sent  Jackson  with  the  rest 
of  his  army  to  march  across  Hooker's  line  of  battle  clear  around 
his  right,  and  there,  to  dash  upon  his  Hank  and  rear,  while  by 
simultaneous  assault  upon  his  front  he  would  be  inevitably 
crushed. 

With  that  rapidity  and  perfection  of  execution  which  charac- 
terized him,  Jackson,  unobserved,  reached  the  coveted  position, 
stood  with  Fitzhugh  Lee  alone  upon  an  eminence  from  which  he 
looked  down  ui>on  the  unsuspecting  camps  of  the  enemy,  de- 
ployed his  forces  for  assault  and  hurled  them  upon  the  astonished 
foe.  This  took  place  in  the  afternoon,  and  before  night  had  sus- 
pended operations  Hooker's  discomfiture  was  assured.  The  ad- 
vantage was  promptly  and  vigorously  pushed  on  the  next  morn- 
ing ;  in  the  course  of  which  Lee  and  Stuart  (who  liad  succeeded 
to  the  command  of  the  wounded  Jackson),  again  touched  elbows, 
swept  Hooker's  army  out  of  its  works  at  Chancellorsville  and 
sent  it  reeling  and  broken  back  upon  the  Itappahaiinock. 

Hooker  thus  disposed  of,  now  for  Sedgwick.  Early  had,  by 
his  gallant  resistance,  gained  precious  time  and  given  serious 
occu])ation  to  Sedgwick,  1)ut  the  immensely  superior  numbers  of 
the  latter  had  at  last  forced  Earl}^  back  and  were  advancing  up- 
on Lee's  rear  towards  Chancellorsville.      Lee  now  gathered  up 


ORATION.  31 

the  uiost  iivailiible  of  his  victuiioii.s  forces  ;md  riishiiij^'  to  the  rc- 
mforceinent  of  Early,  speedily  couveited  Sedgwick's  advance  in- 
to a  swift  retreat;  which  wouhl  havc^  resulted  in  his  eai)tiire  had 
not  the  friendly  cover  of  iii«iht  cliecked  pursuit  aiid  enabled 
hiin  to  cross  the  Rappahannock.  So  ended  the  operations  of 
Chancellorsville,  at  the  close  of  which  Gen.  Hooker  found  liis 
army,  demoralized  by  defeat  and  winikened  by  tr(Mnendous  losses, 
in  those  very  camps  opposite  Fredericksburg,  from  which  they 
had  so  recently  set  out  to  imagined  victorj'  over  an  infe- 
rior foe. 

Chancellorsville !  brightest  and  saddest  of  Confederate  tri- 
umphs. Brightest,  because  the  military  history  of  the  future 
must  ever  point  to  it  as  the  most  consx)icuous  example  of  the 
.  power  of  consummate  genius  in  a  commander,  by  audacious  wis- 
dom of  conception,  celerity  of  movement,  and  knowing  how  and 
when  to  venture  on  risks  which,  by  the  very  sublimity  of  their 
rashness,  escape  anticipation  or  discovery,  and  thereby  become 
jirudent  and  safe,  to  accomplish  the  apparently  impossible  and  to 
snatch  victory  from  overwhelming  odds.  Saddest,  because  in  its 
tangled  thicket;*  and  in  the  shades  of  that  night  whicli  fell  upon 
the  most  brilliant  achievement  of  the  war,  the  immortal  Jackson, 
busy  in  organizing  the  sure  victory  of  the  morrow,  rode  upon 
that  death,  which  leaves  the  world  yet  in  doubt  as  to  whether 
tlie  fatal  bullet  that  caused  it  did  not,  at  the  same  time,  deal  the 
death-wound  of  the  Confederacy.  If  Lee  was  the  Jove  of  the 
war,  Stonewall  Jackson  w^as  his  thunderbolt.  For  the  execution 
of  the  hazardous  plans  of  Lee,  just  such  a  lieutenant  was  indis- 
pensable— one  in  whose  lexicon  there  was  "no  such  word  as 
fail,"  for  whom  the  impossible  did  not  exist,  and  who,  in  com- 
bined manoeuvres  depending  for  success  upon  sei)arate  and  con- 
sentaneous movements,  ever  assumed  that  one  which  was  most 
difficult  and  made  it  the  most  certain  of  execution.  Never  his 
the  task  of  giving  good,  bad  or  indifferent  reasons  for  the  non- 
execution  of  any  order  confided  to  him,  or  for  not  executing  it  in 
the  manner,  or  Avithin  the  time  contemplated.  Alas  !  we  now  ap- 
proach the  critical  and  disastrous  campaign  of  Gettysburg,  the 
whole  history  of  which,  on  the  Confederate  side,  is  made  up  of 
controversies  as  to  why  this,  that,  or  the  other  order  of  the  com- 
mander w  as  not  executed,  or  executed  too  late,  or  executed  im- 
perfectly, and  at  every  turn  of  which   we  involuntarily  exclaim, 


oL'        •  ORATION. 

'•  Where,  oli  where  was  Ja<;ksou  theu  ?  Cue  bhist  iipou  his 
bugle  horn  were  worth  a  thousand  men  ! '' 

The  motives  for  the  advance  into  Pennsylvania  were  similar  to 
those  already  indicated  as  prompting  the  movement  into  Mary- 
land of  the  previous  year. 

The  campaign  was  attended  with  misfortune  from  the  start. 
The  miscarriage  of  Stuart's  cavalry  deprived  Gen.  Lee  of  its  co- 
operation and  left  him  in  a  strange  and  hostile  country  without 
its  necessary  aid  in  feeling  his  way  and  keeping  him  apijrized  of 
his  surroundings.  This  precii)itated  the  unexpected  clash  at 
Gettysburg,  which  took  place  without  premeditation  on  either 
side. 

I  shall  not  enter  into  the  details  of  this  tremendous  battle,  be- 
cause I  cannot  do  so  without  involving  myself  in  the  controvers- 
ies already  suggested. 

The  failure  to  press  the  advantage  gained  in  the  first  day's 
fighting,  as  ordered  by  Lee,  and  thus  to  gain  the  historic  heights 
of  Gettysburg ;  the  delay  to  deliver  the  assault  ordered  for  the 
early  morning  of  the  second  day  until  four  o'clock  in  the  evening, 
thus  allowing  the  enemy  to  increase  his  forces,  strengthen  his 
position  and  to  occupy  the  eminence  of  Eound  Top ;  the  disjoint- 
ed character  of  the  assault  when  made,  in  which  the  advantage 
gained  by  our  right  wing  was  lost  because  the  delay  of  the 
left  wing  in  advancing,left  the  former  without  necessary  support; 
the  like  miscarriage  and  failure  of  the  general  assault  ordered 
for  the  following  morning,  in  which  the  advance  of  our  left  wing 
was  paralyzed  because  not  responded  to  by  the  sinudtaneous 
movement  of  the  right;  and  the  final  tremendous  blunder,  by 
which  the  immortal  charge  of  Pickett's  and  Heth's  divisions, 
launched  across  half  a  mile  of  open  plain  swept  by  an  over- 
whelming fire  of  artillery,  against  fortified  heights  occupied  by 
vastly  superior  numbers,  and  culminating  in  their  actual  capture 
and  the  planting  of  standards  upon  the  guns  of  the  enemy,  was 
robbed  of  its  results  by  the  lack  of  support — these  errors  blasted 
the  fair  hopes  of  a  victory  which  might  have  changed  the  result 
of  the  war. 

I  leave  to  history  the  task  of  adjudging  the  blame  for  these 
errors.  I  content  myself  with  declaring,  as  the  result  of  my 
study  of  the  evidence,  that  Lee  was  not  in  fault.  The  electric 
cord  which  bound  the  great  Lieutenants  of  Lee  to  each  other. 


•  ORATION.  33 

and  to  their  coiiimaiKlor,  aud  wliicli  on  so  many  other  liekls  made 
them  invincible  and  crowned  them  with  imi)erishable  huirels, 
seems,  on  that  day,  to  have  spe<I  hnt  a  Ijroken  cnrrent.  As  Lee 
was  eager  to  save  them  from  bhime  and  to  say  ''it  was  all  my 
fault,"  their  generous  souls  would  be  the  first  to  exonerate  him 
and  repudiate  his  self-sacrifice. 

The  battle  of  Gettysburg  was  delivered  by  Gen.  Lee  with 
sixty-two  thousand  men  of  all  arms  against  one  hundred  and 
five  thousand  of  the  enemy.  Considering  that  Lee  was  the 
attacking  party  and  was  repulsed,  it  must  be  acceiited  as 
a  Confederate  defeat.  But  such  was  the  imx^ression  produced 
uiion  the  enemy  \)y  its  fierce  assaults  that  he  was  ignorant 
of  his  victory,  and  the  (luestion  engaging  his  attention  seems 
to  have  been,  not  whether  he  should  j)ress  a  defeated  adversary, 
but  whether  he  should  himself  await  a  repetition  of  the  attack. 

Crimson  with  the  setting  of  the  sun  which  fell  upon  the  field 
of  Gettysburg,  boding  storm  and  tempest  to  the  Confederate 
cause;  yet  it  substantially  ended  the  campaign  of  1863,  and  left 
the  Federal  army  farther  from  Richmond  than  it  was  at  its  open- 
ing. 

Lee  recrossed  the  Potomac  at  leisui'e  and  without  serious  mo- 
lestation, and  none  but  minor  operations  intervened  until  the 
spring  of  18G4. 

We  now  approach  that  last  and  matchless  campaign  in  which 
the  "  consummate  flower  "  of  Lee's  soldiership  burst  into  its  full- 
est bloom,  and  witched  the  world  with  its  beauty. 

The  grim  hero  of  Vicksburg  and  of  Missionary  Eidge,  a  man 
of  inflexible  will  and  desperate  tenacity,  who  measured  his  own 
resources  and  those  of  his  adversary  with  merciless  precision, 
stepi)ed  to  the  head  of  the  Army  of  the  Potomac.  That  army 
Avas  now  swollen  to  an  enormous  host  of  one  hundred  and  forty- 
one  thousand  men,  while  his  home  Government,  weary  of  fail- 
ure and  desijerately  in  earnest,  gave  him  the  assurance  of  rein- 
forcement whenever  required. 

Lee  confronted  him  with  sixty-four  thousand  men,  i)recious  men, 
the  death  or  capture  of  every  one  of  whom  was  a  loss  not  to  be 
repaired. 

The  grandest  comj)liment  ever  paid  by  one  soldier  to  another 
was  paid  by  Grant  to  Lee  in  the  famous  "  attrition"  order  of  the 
former.    It  openly  abandoned  competition  with  him  in  the  fields 


34  ORATION'.  » 

of  strategy  and  maiiceuvre,  and  simply  proposed  to  liurl  superior 
against  inferior  forces  until,  "by  the  mere  force  of  attrition," 
the  latter  should  be  annihilated.  Whatever  else  may  be  said  of 
it,  the  plan  seemed  sure  of  success,  and  it  succeeded  ;  but  at  the 
cost  of  such  enormous  destruction  to  the  superior  force  as  the 
Federal  general  could  hardly  have  contemplated. 

The  situation  was,  from  the  first,  a  desperate  one  for  Lee.  The 
odds  against  him  and  the  enemy's  unlimited  capacity  for  main- 
taining and  increasing  them,  left  little  chance  for  a  decisive  vic- 
tory. He  might  not  hope  that  Grant  would  divide  his  forces, 
and  give  him  the  chance,  so  often  profited  by  in  the  past,  of 
whii^ping  him  in  detail.  The  policy  of  retreat,  however  "mas- 
terly," could  lead  to  but  one  result — the  final  submission  to  a 
siege  within  the  defenses  of  Eichmond,  and  consequent  abandon- 
ment of  the  capital. 

The  only  course  which  promised  the  possibility  of  success  was 
to  fight  from  the  start,  to  attack  regardless  of  odds  whenever  op- 
l)ortunity  offered,  to  dispute  every  step  of  the  advance,  to  hold 
every  position  to  the  last,  and  to  take  those  chances  which,  ui)on 
the  most  unequal  fields,  genius  sometimes  finds,  to  snatch  vic- 
tory fi'om  the  very  jaws  of  despair. 

There  is  something  magnificent  in  the  audacity  with  which,  as 
soon  as  Grant  had  crossed  the  Eapidan,  and  set  his  vast  force  on 
the  advance  to  liiclimond,  Lee  marched  straight  for  him,  and  in- 
stantly grappled  with  him  in  the  Wilderness.  A.  terrible  wres- 
tle ensued,  lasting  for  two  days,  in  which  the  advantage  was  on 
the  Confederate  side.  It  was  Grant,  and  not  Lee,  who  retired 
from  this  struggle  and  sought  by  a  rapid  flank  movement  to  gain 
Spottsylvania  Court-House.  But  Lee  anticipated  his  design,  and 
reaching  that  i)oint  simultaneously  Avitli  Grant,  again  opposed 
his  army  to  his  advance  on  Eichmond.  Here  again  the  two  ar- 
mies closed  in  desperate  fight,  in  which,  as  at  the  Wilderness, 
the  losses  of  the  enemy  were  terrific.  After  repeated  and  fierce 
assaults.  Grant  again  retired  from  this  field,  and  moved  by  the 
flank  toward  Bowling  Green,  but  Lee  reached  Hanover  Junction 
in  time  to  place  himself  again  in  his  front. 

Declining  the  gage  of  battle  here  oft'ered.  Grant  began  a  series 
of  flank  movements  eastward,  Lee  moving  on  parallel  lines  and 
confi'outing  him  at  every  halt,  until  at  last  the  two  armies  met 
on  the  historic  field  of  Cold  Harbor. 


ORATION. 


35 


Here  Grant  ag-ain  closed  with  liis  adversary  and  liurled  liis 
columus  iu  repeated  assaultf^  iil)On  the  impregnable  front  of  Lee, 
repulsed  with  such  terrible  carnage  that,  though  the  intrepid 
Federal  commander  would  have  desperately  continued  them,  liis 
troops,  gallant  as  they  were,  unmistakably  reminded  him  that 
they  were  weary  of  slaughter. 

This  campaign  may  be  said  to  have  ended  with  the  next  move- 
ments of  Grant,  which  brought  him  in  front  of  Petersburg,  within 
the  entrenchments  of  which  by  the  invalualtle  co-operation  of 
Louisiana's  foremost  soldier,  Beauregard,  Lee  succeeded  in  estab- 
lishing his  army,  and  the  siege  of  Petersburg  was  begun. 

Take  now  a  brief  retrospect  of  the  campaign. 

Grant  started  with  over  one  hunilred  and  forty -one  thoumnd  men 
against  sixty -four  ihonmnd  men.  He  received  reinforcements 
swelling  his  aggregate  engaged  iu  the  campaign  to  o«e /j«nfZre(Z 
and  ninety-two  thousand  men,  while  Lee  had  received  hwt  fourteen 
thousand  reinforcement.  Lee  had  so  managed  his  inferior  force  as 
to  confront  his  adversary  at  every  halt  and  to  be  read}'  for  battle 
whenever  offered.  Such  skill  had  he  displayed  in  the  selection 
of  his  positions  and  the  disposition  of  his  troo^js  that  he  repidsed 
every  assault,  won  every  battle  and  forced  his  adversary  to  retire 
from  every  field.  According  to  the  authority  of  S'wiuton,  the 
Federal  historian,  Grant  had  lost  sixty-thousand  men,  a  niunber 
nearly  equal  to  the  entire  force  of  his  opponent.  And  what  had 
the  Federal  commander  accomplished  ?  He  had  reached  a  point 
on  the  James  River,  the  water  route  to  Jiichmond  always  open, 
where,  in  much  less  time  and  Avithout  the  loss  of  a  man,  he  might 
have  established  himself  at  the  opening  of  the  campaign. 

The  siege  of  Petersburg  !  How  shall  I  commemorate  it  I  How 
shall  I  do  justice  to  the  heroism  displayed  in  the  defense  of  those 
immortal  lines  ?  During  nine  weary  months  the  great  Federal 
leader,  with  all  his  intrepid  daring,  with  his  unquestioned  mili- 
tary talent,  with  his  vastly  superior  force,  with  all  the  expedients 
of  science  and  art  at  his  command,  and  with  unlimited  supplies 
of  everything  essential  for  his  operations,  struggled  in  vain  to 
surmount  them.  He  tried  to  get  over  them  by  assault.  He  tried 
to  get  under  them  by  subterranean  mining.  He  tried  to  get 
around  them  by  flanking.  He  tried  to  move  them  out  of  his  way, 
by  explosion.  In  vain  !  The  genius  of  Lee  metund  foiled  him  at 
every  point. 


36  OKATION. 

And  what  shall  he  said  of  that  little  hand  of  immortal  heroes, 
the  Don  (Quixote  of  armies,  ^Yho,  with  uiifalteriiij^'  devotion  and 
nnflinching  courage,  stood  hy  Lee  during  the  long  mouths  of 
this  renowned  siege  !  For  four  years  they  had  fought,  and  it 
might  have  been  sui^posed  that  they  were  weary  of  strife.  Hunger 
often  gnawed  at  their  vitals,  and  famine  sometimes  stared  them  in 
the  face.  With  tattered  garments,  and  often  shoeless  feet,  they 
shivered  in  the  freezing  winter  winds.  Disasters  everywhere  to 
the  Confederate  cause  robbed  them  of  the  soldier's  solace,  the 
hope  and  confidence  of  ultimate  triumph.  Turning  from  their 
own  cheerless  lot  to  their  distant  homes,  the  tidings  they  re- 
ceived from  wives  and  children  and  aged  parents  told  of  burning 
roof-trees,  of  flight  before  invading  armies,  of  want,  desolation 
and  despair. 

And  yet  they  fought  on  ;  defied  ill-omened  augury  ;  dared  fate 
to  do  her  worst;  and  with  a  sublime  confidence  and  matchless 
devotion  such  as,  I  dare  to  say,  no  other  cause  and  no  other  com- 
mi.xider  ever  inspired,  they  stood  by  Lee  to  the  very  last. 

And  when  the  end  came,  when  Gordon  had  "fought  his  corps 
to  a  frazzle,"  and  when  in  fierce  combat  every  other  corps  had 
been  torn  into  shreds;  when  a  mere  remnant  was  left  surrounded 
on  every  side  by  foes  in  such  overpowering  numbers  that  further 
resistance  would  have  been  a  wanton  sacrifice  of  precious  lives; 
and  when,  at  last,  Lee  submitted  to  the  inevitable  and  yielded 
his  sword  to  the  victor,  these  grim  warriors  gathered  round  him, 
seeming  more  afl'ected  by  his  humiliation  than  by  their  own 
calamity,  and  with  tearful  eyes  and  kissing  the  very  hem  of  his 
garments,  gave  him  their  affectionate  adieux,  and  sadly  turned 
to  the  new  lives  which  opened  before  them. 

Success  is  not  always  the  test  of  soldiership. 

Hannibal  ended  his  carreer  as  a  soldier  in  the  overwhelming 
defeat  of  Zama,  and  died  a  fugitive  in  a  foreign  land. 

Charles  XII  of  Sweden,  that  meteor  of  war,  defeated  at  Pul- 
towa,  sought  safety  in  exile,  and  on  returning  to  his  native  land, 
met  death  in  a  vain  attempt  to  restore  his  fallen  fortunes. 

Jfapoleon  died,  a  prisoner  and  an  exile,  after  his  complete 
overthrow  on  the  field  of  Waterloo,  where  he  encountered  odds 
less  than  those  which  were  opposed  to  Lee  in  any  battle  which 
he  ever  fouglit. 

Considering  the  imxjortance  of  his  operations,  the  large  forces 


ORATION.  37 

engaged,  the  immense  superiority  of  his  adversaries  in  iiimil)ors 
and  resources,  tlie  skillful  commanders  whom  he  successively 
vanquished,  the  number  of  his  victories,  the  brilliancy  and  suc- 
cessful audacity  of  his  strategy  aiul  tactical  man(euvres  and  the 
magniticent  tenacity  which  yielded,  at  last,  to  destruction  rather 
than  defeat^ — 1  challenge  for  Lee  an  exalted  rank  amongst  the 
very  greatest  (;ai)tains  of  the  world. 

The  only  obstacle  which  Lee  encounters  to  the  universal  re- 
cognition of  his  greatness  lies  in  the  perverseness  of  human  na- 
ture, which  exacts,  as  compensation  for  the  admiration  accorded 
to  great  qualities,  the  privilege  of  criticising  the  faults, weaknesses 
and  excesses  with  \\  hich  they  are  usually  accompanied. 

His  freedom  from  eccentricities,  the  absence  of  merely  per- 
sonal ambition,  and  tlie  simple  and  i)erfect  equipoise  of  his  tem- 
per, lead  shallow  minds  to  deny  the  force  of  his  individuality,  for- 
getting that  these  very  qualities  themselves  constitute  an  ennob- 
ling eccentricity,  shared  in  the  same  degree  by  no  other  military 
character,  or  by  AVashington  alone. 

Certainly  the  impression  produced  by  him  upon  his  contemi)o- 
raries  was  marvelous.  As  we  have  seen,  his  first  commander, 
Winfield  JScott,  pronounced  him  ''the  greatest  living  soldier  of 
America."  His  loftiest  subordinate,  Stonewall  Jackson,  whose 
splendid  capacities  and  achievements  lifted  him  into  rivahy  with 
Lee  himself,  said  of  him:  "Lee  is  a  phenomenon — the  only  man 
I  ever  knew  that  I  would  be  wdling  to  follow  blindfold."  The 
estimate  of  him  by  his  soldiers  is  illustrated  by  the  commentary 
of  two  "  learned  Thebans"  among  them  upon  Darwin's  theory  of 
evolution,  in  which  one  said  to  the  other :  "■  Well,  you  and  I  and 
the  rest  of  us  may  be  descended  from  monkeys,  but  how  are  j'ou 
to  account  for  Marse  iiobert  ?  "  Such  was  tlieir  sul)lime  confi- 
dence in  him  that  they  regarded  criticism  of  him  as  blasphemous, 
and  were  so  blind  even  to  his  errors  that  they  were  like  the  dis- 
ciple of  Cato,  who,  when  the  philospher  died  by  his  own  hand, 
declared  that  "  he  would  rather  believe  suicide  to  be  right  than 
that  Cato  could  do  anything  wrong." 

Let  nothing  I  have  said  be  construed  as  disparaging  the  valor 
of  the  Union  troops,  the  skill  of  their  leaders  or  the  splendor  of 
their  achievements.  On  the  contrary,  the  tribute  I  have  i)aid  to 
the  genius  of  Lee  and  the  heroism  of  his  soldiers,  only  endjlazons 
their  triumph  and  lends  to  it  a  glory  which,  otherwise,    it  would 


38  ORATIO>'. 

not  possess.  And  e<iually  is  it  the  surest  foundation  of  Lee's 
fame  that  his  victories  were  won  from  "foemen  worthy  of  his 
steel." 

Away  M'ith  such  comparisons  I  Eeturning-  from  our  voyage 
over  historic  seas,  in  quest  of  the  goklen  fleece  of  noble  deeds 
and  heroic  lives,  we  bring  on  shore  "the  riches  of  the  ship,''  and 
cast  them  into  the  treasury  of  our  common  country.  Sail  forth, 
adventurers,  on  whatever  sea,  find  such  jewels  where  ye  may, 
and  whether  their  tint  be  gray  or  blue,  the  re]mblic  will  bear 
them  as  her  proudest  ornaments. 

My  task  is  done.  The  fruitfulness  of  the  theme  has  led  me  to 
tax  your  patience  far  beyond  excuse.  I  may  not  follow  Lee  in 
that  gracious  and  l)eautiful  life  to  which  he  retired  as  college 
president,  at  the  close  of  the  war,  and  in  which  he  labored,  to  the 
moment  of  his  death,  in  repairing  the  neglected  education  of  the 
Southern  youth,  and  iii  teaching  his  people,  b}-  precept  and  ex- 
ample, the  lesson  that  "human  fortitude  should  be  equal  to  hu- 
man calamity,"  the  duty  of  adapting  themselves  to  the  situation 
in  which  Providence  had  placed  them,  of  building  up' their  ruined 
fortunes,  and  by  a  fjiithful  discharge  of  the  duties  of  citizenship, 
of  re-establishing  themselves  as  members  of  that  Union  from 
which  fate  did  not  permit  them  j:o  depart. 

I  may  not  pause  to  epitomize  the  various  qualities  which  mark 
Lee  as  a  great  cai^taiu.  His  deeds  speak  for  themselves,  and 
exhibit  the  characteristics  of  that  military  genius  which  enabled 
him  to  achieve  them. 

I  may  not  stoj)  to  delineate  the  peculiar  nobility  and  sublimity 
of  his  character,  nor  the  "daily  lieauty  in  his  life,"  which, 
from  the  cradle  to  the  grave,  knew  no  diminution  of  its  pure  and 
steady  lustre,  which  captivated  the  admiration  of  tJie  good,  and 
subdued,  by  its  subtle  influence,  even  the  malice  of  the  bad. 

I  may  not  enumerate  those  historic  examples  of  heroic  courage, 
by  which,  in  desperate  crises  of  battle,  when  the  fate  of  the 
struggle  trembled  in  the  balance,  he  took  his  life  in  his  hands, 
and  would  have  rushed  int(»  the  jaws  of  destruction,  had  not  his 
faithful  soldiers  forced  him  to  the  rear,  and,  reanimated  by  his 
daring,  restored,  by  sui)erhinii;in  valor,  the  fortunes  of  the  day. 
Whenever,  in  all  future  time,  the  leader  in  some  great  cause, 
finding  Ids  followers  abont  to  yield,  shall  be  inspired  to  reanimate 
them  by  imperiling  his  own  life,  let  liini,  who  first  feels  the  shame 


ORATION.  39 

of  such  exposure,  but  raise  tlie  cry  of  ''Lee  to  ti:e  rear!"'  and,  if 
they  be  made  of  manly  stuff,  the  remembrance  of  the  grand  ex- 
amph'  thrice  stt  upon  Virjiinia  fiehls  will  avert  that  leader's  dan- 
ger and  will  the  day  without  it ! 

Proudly,  then,  we  unveil  this  monnnieut,  fearless  of  any  denial 
that  it  perpetuates  the  memory  oY  a  man  Justly  entitled  to  rank 
as  oiu'  of  the  princes  of  his  race,  and  worthy  of  the  veneration  of 
the  world. 

The  Christian  may  point  to  it  as  <*ommemorative  «>f  one  who 
faithfully  wore  the  armor  of  Christ,  and  wh(t  fashioned  his  life  as 
nearly  after  that  of  the  God-^fan  as  human  imperfection  would 
l^errait. 

The  moralist  nmy  recognize  in  it  a  tribute  to  a  friend  of 
humanity  to  whom  pride  and  self-seeking  were  unknown,  and 
whose  unconscious  nobility  of  conduct  answers  to  the  descrii)- 
tion  of  a  virtuous  man  given  by  the  imperial  philosopher,  Marcus 
Antoninus :  "He  does  good  acts  as  if  not  even  knowing  what  lie 
has  done,  and  is  like  a  vine  wliicli  has  produced  grapes  and 
seeks  for  nothing  more  after  it  has  produced  its  proper  fruit. 
Such  a  man,  when  he  has  done  a  good  act,  does  not  call  for 
others  to  come  and  see,  but  goes  on  to  another  act,  as  a  vine 
goes  on  to  produce  again  the  grapes  in  season." 

The  social  philosoi)her  will  see  in  it  a  tribute  to  the  highest 
type  of  gentleman,  in  birth,  in  manners,  in  accomplishments,  in 
appearance,  in  feeling,  in  habit. 

The  lover  of  the  heroic  will  find  here  honor  i^aid  to  a  cliivalry 
and  courage  which  place  Lee  l)y  the  side  of  Bayard  and  of  Sid- 
ney, "from  spur  to  plume  a  star  of  tournament." 

It  is  fitting  that  monuments  should  he  erected  to  such  a  man. 

The  imagination  might,  alas  !  too  easily,  picture  a  crisis  in  the 
future  of  the  Republic,  when  virtue  might  have  lost  her  seat  in 
the  hearts  of  the  people,  when  the  degrading  greed  of  money- 
getting  might  have  undermined  the  nobler  aspirations  of  their 
souls,  when  luxury  and  effeminacy  might  have  emasculated  the 
rugged  courage  and  endurance  upon  which  the  safety  of  States 
dei^ends,  when  corruption  might  thrive  and  liberty  might 
languish,  when  pelf  might  stand  above  patriotism,  self  above 
country,  ^lammon  before  (jod,  and  when  the  patriot  might  read 
on  ever}'  hand  the  sure  passage  : 

"111  fares  tlie  laml,  to  ])astening  ills  a  proy, 
Where  wealth  accuiuiilates  and  lueii  decay!" 


40  OEATION. 

Ill  siicli  an  hour — quam  Dii  arertife — let  some  inspired  orator, 
alive  to  tlie  peril  of  liis  country,  siiiniuou  the  people  to  gather 
round  this  monunient,  and,  pointing  to  that  noble  figure,  let  him 
recount  his  story,  and  if  aught  can  arouse  a  noble  shame  and 
awaken  dormant  virtue,  that  may  do  it. 

The  day  is  not  distant  when  all  citizens  of  this  great  Kepub- 
lic  will  unite  in  claiming  Lee  as  their  own,  and  rising  from  the 
study  of  his  heroic  life  and  deeds,  will  cast  away  the  prejudices 
of  forgotten  strife  and  exclaim  : 

"We  know  him  now;  all  narrow  jealousies 
Are  silent,  and  we  see  bim  as  lie  moved— 
How  modest,  kiudl}',  ali-accomplished,  wise, 
"With  what  sublime  repression  of  liiniself — 
AVeariug  the  wliite  flower  of  a  blameless  life." 

But,  proudest,  tenderest  thought  of  all,  the  people  of  this 
bright  Southland  say,  through  this  monument,  to  all  the  world : 

"Such  was  he  ;  his  work  is  done, 

But  while  the  races  of  mankind  endure, 

Let  his  great  example  stand, 

Colossal,  seen  of  every  land, 

And  keep  the  soldier  tirm,  the  statesman  pure. 

Till  in  all  lands  and  through  all  human  story, 

The  path  of  Duty  be  the  way  to  glory  !" 


HISTORICAL   SKETCH 


•  OK   THE  — 


R,  E, 


LEE  MONUME 


The  E.  E.  Lee  Mouuinental  Association  of  Xew  Orleans,  had 
its  origin  in  tliat  grand  ontbnrst  of  tribntary  grief  at  the  death 
of  Lee,  wliich,  while  it  covered  his  tomb  with  the  votive  offerings 
of  the  good  and  wise  of  all  civilized  nations,  pro*8trated  the  peo- 
ple of  the  Southern  States  of  this  Union  in  ijeculi'ir  and  unut- 
terable w^oe. 

The  Association  Avas  organized  November  16th,  187(),  with  the 
following  officers  and  directors  : 

Wm.  M.  PEEKIXS, Presidext. 

G.  T.  BEAUEEGAED,     -    -     -    1st  Vice  Presedext. 
A.  W.  BOSWOETH,    -    -    -    -  2d  Vice  President. 

Wm.  S.  pike,    - Treasurer. 

Thos.  J.  BECK, Eecording  Sec'ty. 

JAMES  STEAWBEIDGE,  -     -     -    -  Corres.  Sec'ty. 


Directors. 


Hugh  McCloskey, 
A.  M.  Fortier, 
Chas.  E.  Fenner, 
Wm.  B.  Schmidt, 
Wm.  H.  Dameron, 
W.  K  Mercer, 
M.  O.  H.  Norton, 

It  is  unnecessary  to  say  wliy  the  enterprise  languished.  It  was 
in  those  dark  days  when  jioverty  sat  by  ever}'  honest  hearth- 
stone in  New  Orleans,  and  Avhen  the  scanty  remnant  left  by  the 


Henrj'  Eenshaw, 
Edward  Barnett, 
George  Joiuis, 
Abram  Thomas, 
Lloyd  E.  Coleman, 
Ed.  A.  Palfrey, 
Arch.  Mitchell, 


E.  S.  Morse, 
Samuel  Boyd, 
S.  H.  Kennedy, 
Newton  Eichards, 
Jas.  Jackson, 
E.  A.  Tvler, 
Ed.  Bignev. 


42  HISTORICAL    SKETCH. 

gTeedy  tax-gatherer  \vas  too  sorely  needed  for  the  necessities  of 
the  living-  to  be  spared  for  building-  monuments,  even  to  the  most 
illustrious  dead. 

In  the  course  of  years,  it  came  to  be  remembered  that  the 
small  fund  which  had  been  accumulated  by  the  first  efforts  of  the 
founders  of  the  association,  was  lying-  idle  in  bank,  and  a  meet- 
ing- of  the  directors  was  called  on  February  18th,  187G,  for  the 
purpose  of  determining*  whether  the  association  should  not  be 
dissolved,  and  its  funds  returned  to  the  donors  or  distributed  to 
charitable  associations. 

A  call  of  the  roll  at  that  meeting  revealed  the  fact  that,  in  the 
years  which  had  passed,  the  i^resident,  the  treasurer,  the  secre- 
tary and  eleven  (11)  of  the  original  directors  had  died. 

A  re-organization  was  then  effected  constituting  the  following 
officers  and  directors:  Chas.  E.  Fenner,  President ;  G.  T.  Beaure- 
gard, 1st  Vice  President 5  M.  Musson,  2d  Vice  President;  S.  H. 
Kennedy,  Treasurer,  W.  I.  Hodgson,  Recording  Secretary ;  W. 
M.  Owen,  Corresponding  Secretary.  Directors — W.  B.  Schmidt, 
Geo.  Jonas,  Lloyd  E.  Coleman,  R.  S.  Morse,  E.  A.  Tyler,  Jas. 
Buckner,  Thos.  A.  Adams,  Sam'l  Choppin,  S.  H.  Snowden,  W. 
T.  Vaudry,  Henry  Eenshaw,  E.  A.  Palfrey,  Sam'l  Boyd,  Arch. 
Mitchell,  W.  C.  Black,  B.  A.  Pope,  Jas.  T.  Day,  I.  L.  Lyons,  J.  J. 
Mellon,  E.  D.  WiUett. 

The  times  were  scarcely  more  propitious  than  they  had  been 
before,  but  when  the  Directors  stood  face  to  face  with  the  propo- 
sition to  al)andon  the  work,  their  patriotic  imjudses  refused  to 
accept  it,  and  inspired  them  with  the  determination,  at  all  haz- 
ards, to  complete  it. 

It  was  then  resolved,  with  the  means  which  could  be  immedi- 
ately commanded,  to  begin  the  monument,  as  the  best  means  of 
assuring-  its  comi)letion. 

Of  the  numerous  designs  submitted,  that  of  our  distinguished 
home-architect,  Mr.  John  Roy,  was  selected,  not  only  because  of 
its  artistic  merit  and  beauty,  but  also  because  its  plan  was  such 
that  its  construction  could  proceed  just  as  far  and  as  fast  as  our 
means  would  permit. 

And  so  was  built  the  monument  wliicli  exists  to-day. 

The  difficult  and  exj)ensive  foundation,  the  massive  mound  of 
earth,  tlie  granite  pyramid,  and  the  shapely  marble  column,  were 
all  constructed  under  a  contract  with   Mr.  Roy,  which  provided 


HISTORICAL    SKKTCII, 


43 


that  his  ^^ol■k  should  piognvss  just  as  fust  as  our  uu'uus  would 
allow,  stopping  when  the  treasury  was  euipty  and  proceeding' 
wlu^n  it  was  replenished. 

Slow  and  tedious  was  its  progress,  olteu  halting,  whih'  fresli 
api^eals  could  be  made  to  the  liberality  of  the  people  of  New  Or- 
leans. They  were  always  answered,  and,  surely  though  slowly, 
stone  was  piled  upon  stone,  until,  Avlieu  the  cap  stone  was  set 
upon  thelotty  i)illar,  the  whole  was  paid  for. 

Then  came  the  task  of  i)roviding  the  means  for  the  colossal 
bronze  statue  which  now  crowns  the  work. 

The  means  of  the  Association  did  not  allow  the  privilege  of 
calling  to  its  aid  the  reigning  kings  of  the  artist  world. 

Fortune  threw  in  our  way,  a  young  sculptor,  Alexander  C. 
Doyle,  of  New  York,  who  had  already  given  some  evidence  of  the 
mettle  that  was  in  him, and  who  had  such  contideuce  in  his  own  ca- 
pacity, that  he  was  willing  to  execute  a  plaster  model  of  the 
exact  size  of  the  proposed  statue,  an<l  from  Avhich  the  latter  was 
to  be  directly  moulded,  subject  absolutely  to  the  acceptance  of 
the  association  and  without  cost  unless  satisfactory. 

That  work  was  done  by  him  in  the  St.  Louis  Hotel  Imilding  of 
this  city — how  well,  let  the  statue,  now  standing  in  Lee  Place,  tell 
to  admiring  thousands.  In  imrity  of  concei^tion,  spirit  and  grace 
of  pose  and  expressive  resemblance,  it  is  not  unworthy  of  the 
subject. 

After  various  changes,  the  officers  and  directors  of  the  associa- 
tion consisted  of  the  following  : 

CHARLES  E.  FEXXER,    ------    President. 

G.  T.  BEALTREGAED,     -     -    First  Vice  President. 

M.  MUSSOX, Second  Vice  President. 

S.  H.  KENNEDY,    --------    Treasurer. 

W.  L  HODGSON,    -    -     -    -  Recording  Secretary. 

^y.  M.  O^VEN,    -    -    -     corresponding  Secretary. 

Directors. 

W.  B.  Schmidt,  W.  T.  Yaudry,  R.  31.  Walmsley, 

Alfred  Moulton,  A.  H.  May,  Lloyd  R.  Coleman, 

James  Jackson,  W.  J.  Behan,  Cartwright  Eustis, 

Samuel  Boyd,  J.  L.  Harris,  Ed.  A.  Palfrey, 

J.  C.  Morris,  E.  A,  Burke,  Arch.  !\ritchell, 

J.  J.  Mellon,  I.  L.  Lyons,  James  McConuell, 

Ad.  Meyer,  C.  H.  Allen,  E.  Borland. 


44  HISTORICAL    SKETCH. 

The  statue  liaviiigbeeii  completed,  the  board  selected  the  anni- 
versary of  the  birth  of  Wasliiiij>ton,  the  22d  of  February,  1884, 
as  an  appropriate  occasion  for  the  ceremonies  of  unveiling. 

(ireat  preparations  had  been  made  for  the  event.  An  immense 
platform  had  been  erected  for  the  accommodation  of  subscribers 
to  the  association  and  other  invited  guests,  and  ui>on  which  the 
ceremonies  were  to  take  place,  while  in  front,  and  upon  the  slop- 
ing sides  of  the  mound  at  the  base  of  the  monument,  seats  were 
provided  for  thousands. 

The  day  broke  threatening  and  cloudy,  but  notwithstanding 
its  stormy  aspect,  there  was  such  an  assemblage  of  the  people 
as  has  never  been  seen  in  the  Southern  States.  The  seats  were 
filled  with  ladies,  Avhile  the  circle  and  even  the  streets  approach- 
ing it  were  crowded  by  the  multitude  eager  to  do  honor  to  the 
memory  of  Lee. 

Amongst  the  many  distinguished  i>ersons  in  attendance  were 
the  President  of  the  Confederate  States,  Jefferson  Davis,  his 
daughters,  and  Misses  Mary  and  Mildred  Lee,  daughters  of  the 
great  soldier  and  patriot,  in  whose  honor  the  monument  was 
erected.  The  associations  of  the  armies  of  aSTorthern  Virginia 
and  Tennessee,  the  militia  of  the  State,  and  a  large  delegation 
from  the  Grand  Army  of  the  Republic  honored  the  occasion  by 
their  presence.  Just  as  the  ceremonies  were  about  to  begin,  the 
storm,  which  had  been  gathering,  burst  in  torrents  of  rain  which 
lasted  for  hours,  dispersing  the  immense  audience  and  rendering 
it  impossil)le  to  proceed.  In  the  midst  of  it,  however,  and  while 
the  salvos  of  Heaven's  Artillery  almost  drowned  the  salute  with 
which,  in  despite  of  the  storm,  the  event  was  greeted  by  the 
famous  Washington  Artillery,  the  monument  was  unveiled  by  a 
private  soldier  of  Lee's  army,  who,  at  the  suggestion  of  Miss 
Lee,  in  herself  declining  tlie  honor,  had  been  selected  to  perform 
this  <luty. 

Immediately  a  meeting  of  the  Directors  was  held  at  the 
Washington  Artillery  armory,  of  the  proceedings  of  which  the 
following  official  minute  gives  a  full  account  and  forms  the  ap- 
propriate close  to  this  sketch  : 

OFlvLClAL  MIMTES  OF  THE  ASSOCIATION. 
11.  E.  Lee  Monumental  Association,  February  22,   1884. 
immediately  after  the  dispersion  by  the  storm  of  the  immense 


HISTORICAL    SKETCH.  45 

audience  giitliered  to  pjirticipate  in  the  ceremonies  attending  the 
unveiling- of  the  statue  of  Lee,  the  directors  of  this  Association 
met  at  the  Washington  Artillery  Hall,  to  determine  what  course 
slionld  be  pnrsued  with  reference  to  the  ceremonies. 

After  consideration  and  discussion,  the  following  resolutions 
were  proposed  and  unanimously  adojtted  : 

Wliereas,  tlie  imniense  audience  assembled  this  day  at  Lee  Statue,  has 
signalized  the  veneration  and  respect  in  whicli  the  people  of  New  Orleans 
hold  the  memory  of  Robert  E.  Lee,  and  the  enthusiastic  approval  with 
wliich  they  regard  tlie  erection  of  the  monument  to  liim  ;  and,  whereas, 
a  postponement  of  the  ceremonies  could  add  nothing  to  the  tribute  al- 
ready paid  thereby  : 

Be  it  resolceil,  That  the  oration  prepared  for  the  occasion  be  published  ; 
that  the  Mayor  being  present,  tlie  presentation  of  the  monument  to  the 
city  of  New  Orleans  by  the  President  of  tliis  association,  be  forthwith 
made  ;  that  the  directors  of  the  association  proceed  immediately  to  the 
statue,  and  that  the  Bishop.  J.  N.  Gallelier,  here  present,  be  requested 
to  invoke  the  blessing  of  Almighty  God  upon  the  work,  and  that  the 
ceremonies  of  the  occasion  be  then  considered  as  concluded. 

BesoJved,  That  the  Board  of  Directors  tender  their  thanks  to  the 
Grand  Army  of  the  Republic,  the  Associations  of  the  Armies  of  North- 
ern Virginia  and  of  Tennessee,  the  militia  of  the  State  and  all  visiting 
organizations,  as  well  as  to  the  patriotic  women  and  men  of  the  South, 
for  their  attendance  in  such  enormous  numbei's,  and  express  their  re- 
gret that  the  storm  prevented  the  completion  of  the  ceremonies. 

After  the  adoption  of  the  foregoing  resolution,  Hon,  Chas.  E. 
Fenner,  President  of  the  Association,  arose  and  addressed  Mayor 
Behan  as  follows : 

Mr.  Mayor — As  President  of  the  R.  E.  Lee  Monumental  Association, 
and  in  its  behalf,  I  have  now  the  honor  of  presenting  the  monument  this 
day  unveiled,  through  you  to  the  city  of  New  Orleans. 

What  I  have  to  say  touching  the  illustrious  man  to  whom  it  is  erected 
has  been  tittered  in  another  form . 

The  immense  outpouring  of  the  people  of  New  Orleans  which  congre- 
gated around  the  statue  to-day,  defying  the  elements  until  all  hope  of 
further  proceedings  had  to  be  abandoned,  testifies  to  the  deep  and  en 
thiisiastic  veneration  with  which  his  memory   is  reveied  by  the  women 
and  men  of  the  South. 

The  design  of  the  monument  and  its  construction  up  to  the  base  of  the 
statue  are  the  work  of  our  home  architect,  Mr.  John  Roy  ;  while  the 
statue  itself  is  the  production  of  a  yoimg  American  sculptor,  Mr.  A.  C. 
Doyle,  of  New  York,  whose  growing  reputation  will  surely  be  confirmed 
and  extended  thereby. 

I  expei'ience  a  peculiar  pleasure  in  finding  our  city  rei)resented  in  her 
chief  officer  by  one  who  was  a  distinguished  soldier  under  Lee,  and  who 


46  HISTORICAL    SKETCH. 

was  at  the  same  tinio  an  active  meiDber  of  this  Association  and  contri- 
buted valuable  aid  in  tlie  successful  accoraplisment  of  our  enterprise. 

Louisiana  is  entitled  to  a  full  share  in  the  glory  of  Lee.  Her  sous  illus- 
trated by  their  valor  everj'  field  on  whi'-h  his  fame  was  won. 

To  her  chief  city  we  contide  this  monument,  with  full  assurance  that 
she  will  appreciate  and  preserve  it  as  one  of  her  most  precious  posses- 
sions. 

Thereupon  Mayor  Beluiii  arose  and  responded  as  follows  : 

Mr.  Chairman  and  Gentlemen  of  tlie  Lee  Monumental  Association: 

In  accepting  at  your  hands  and  receiving-  into  the  charge  of  the  city  of 
New  Orleans  the  monument  which,  now  completed,  so  proudly  -tands  as 
an  enduring  tribute  to  valor,  worth  and  military  genius,  it  is  indeed 
difficult  to  sutticieutly  acknowledge  the  appreciation  and  respect  Avith 
which  our  public  must  regard  the  affectionate  devotion  of  those  ■who 
have  contributed  to  its  construction. 

This  shaft  has  been  erected  as  a  tiibute  to  the  greatness  and  virtue  of 
one  of  the  purest  and  noblest  men  whose  names  are  written  in  modern 
history. 

Gen.  Lee  w^as  not  only  illustrious  as  a  great  commander,  but  he  was 
also  great  in  all  those  attributes  which  might  constitute  a  brilliant 
exemplar  of  the  highest  civilization. 

Gentlemen,  it  needed  not  this  monument  to  perpetuate  the  name  and 
fame  of  Gen.  Lee.  His  deeds  are  his  monument,  and  they  will  survive 
and  continue  in  remeiubrance  long  after  this  marlde  shall  have  crumbled 
into  dust ;  his  great  example  will  outlive  the  brush  of  the  paiuterand  the 
chisel  of  the  sculptor,  for  great  examples  are  indeed  iuiperishable: 

"  They  will  resist  the  empire  of  decay, 
When  time  is  o'er  and  worlds  have  passed  away. 
Cold  in  the  dust  the  perished  heart  may  lie, 
But  that  which  warmed  it  once  can  never  die." 

After  the  conclusion  of  tlie  presentation,  the  Board  of  Direc- 
tors, in  company  with  Bishop  Galleher,  proceeded  to  the  statue, 
and  the  Bishop,  in  the  presence  of  such  persons  as  were  present, 
lU'onounced  his  benediction  on  the  Avork. 

And  then,  on  motion,  the  meeting  adjourned. 

By  order  of  the  President : 

W.  I.  HODGSON,  Secretary. 

Company  B,  Battalion  of  Washington  Artillery,  Capt.  Eugene 
May  commanding,  with  a  four-gun  battery,  fired,  between  3  and 
4  o'clock,  a  salute  of  10«)  guns  in  honor  of  the  unveiling  of  the 
statue. 


CENTRAL  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

University  of  California,  San  Diego 


DATE  DUE 

I.IAR  C  4       J 

FEB  2  ^'  1^^ 

a  39 

UCSD  Libr. 

A  A  001  399  801  8 


